The Strange Tale Of Marius Bogfae
by Emersonian
Summary: Marius Bogfae is the son of Fairy Queen Marianne and Bog King Lysander. Threatened by the wrath of a vengeful Roland carried on by his children, Marius will have to go through hardships similar to those of his parents in order to protect himself and his kingdom, even if it means being transported by accident to another realm that is different from the one he always knew.
1. Narrator's Prologue

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE

Chapter 1: Narrator's Prologue

 _Narrator:_ Long time ago, in a realm where only fairies, elves, goblins, and imps roamed about, two kingdoms lived united as one after years of warring against one another. The Fairy Kingdom and the one of the Dark Forest finally connected after their royals, Princess Marianne from the Fairy Kingdom and the Bog King Lysander from the Dark Forest fell in love with one another after they found common interests and eventually got married. As expected, everyone was happy and could now go wherever they wanted. Peace was in the atmosphere as a new era began and joy spread even further in the brand new kingdom when it was announced that Queen Marianne was expecting a baby. That baby would be the very first goblin fairy hybrid to have ever existed.

But, months before the child was even born, a new threat was found lurking in the shadows. The menace was none other than the former fairy knight Roland. He was a selfish, arrogant man, who believed himself righteous and worthy of everything. Before our story even started, Roland tried to get the heart of Princess Marianne in order to become the next Fairy King. When his first attempt to marry her failed after she caught him cheating on her on their wedding day and became the warrior we know, he decided to use the Sugar Plum Fairy's powerful love potion in order to force Marianne into marrying him. Unfortunately for him, by the time he was actually able to use it on the Princess, it didn't work because she had fallen in love with the Bog King Lysander and true love was the only thing capable of thwarting the powers of the potion; Roland ended up punched down an abyss, sprayed by the love potion, which caused him to fall in love with a bug. However, scouts from the new kingdom have discovered that Roland was freed from the effects of the potion (how could it be possible, since he truly loved no one but himself?) and that his bug died, leaving him with thirteen eggs that hatched one by one, year after year, into fairy bugs who shared their father's hatred and anger, vowing to avenge him from those who wronged their family by plotting to take over the new kingdom and get rid of the 'hideous and beastly hybrid' that would inherit the throne.


	2. The Birth of A Prince

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 2: The Birth of A Prince

Soldiers were scouting throughout the flowery fields and the dark thickets of the kingdom, fairies from above and elves and goblins from the ground. Standing on the Rocky Tower build at the former border that separated the Fairy Kingdom from the Dark Forest, Sunny the Elf was observing his surroundings, making sure if whether or not he'd spot Roland or any of his bad children.

Personally, Sunny couldn't forgive Roland at all for tricking him into fetching one of the Sugar Plum Fairy's love potions from the Dark Forest so that Roland could use it on Marianne in order to become king. The elf still angrily remembered how Roland had put all the blame on Sunny when Lysander kidnapped Dawn in order to get the potion back while Roland was the one who suggested that the elf use it also on Dawn, whom he had a crush on back then, while they were at it and made a fool of Sunny in front of everyone.

Now, Roland was back, with children of his own, threatening the kingdom's peace while Marianne was remaining in the castle, weakened by her pregnancy and unable to fight Roland just like she did the last time. The evil fairy could strike at any time and who knows what he could do to Sunny's future niece or nephew.

The sound of dragonfly wings approaching caught his attention and he watched as Lysander the Bog King landed on the Rocky Tower.

"Any sign of Roland or any of his bug-children?" the King asked.

Sunny grunted. "Nothing to report yet, Lyz. I don't think that Roland is going to burst into the open yet, especially with all the fairies scouting from the sky and the goblins and fairies searching from the ground. Even Fufu the Imp, that crazy little thing, didn't find him while he was sneaking about. What about you? Anything to predict?"

"Well, let's see. First: unfortunately, we found nothing in the Dark Forest. We searched in all the deepest parts, including the lairs of underground creatures and the abyss where my former castle once stood, but we found nothing. That cursed blonde is nowhere to be seen. Second: don't call me ' _Lyz_ '. I already didn't like it when you're wife called me 'Boggy' and I don't think I'd want a nickname that's similar to the name your pet, Lizzie the Lizard. And third: why is the mischievous imp called 'Fufu'?"

"Because Pare thought it was a cute name," Sunny briefly chuckled.

The two silently observed the landscape as soldiers switched places in order to go hunt down Roland…with no success.

"Don't worry, Bog," Sunny reassured his brother-in-law. "We'll find Roland and we _will_ stop him."

Bog had an uneasy look on his face as Sunny said that phrase. "It's just… here we are, in the middle of a brand new era, with my Marianne preparing for the upcoming birth of our child, the first goblin/fairy hybrid to have ever existed, and now Roland comes back, somehow cured from the love potion even though he loves only himself, and threatens to harm my family, my wife, and my unborn child. And with _my mother_ repeating nonstop on how her grandchild should have been born a long time ago, things are hard for me."

Sunny nodded, understanding what Bog went through. Roland was out there, still angry that getting Marianne to marry him didn't work and jealously repulsed on the fact that not only did she prefer an ' _unattractive_ ' goblin over him, a good-looking fairy as he was, but she even married the goblin and was going to have an heir that wasn't even a fairy at 100%. With currently five fairy-bugs sharing his sense of remorse while 8 others were still in their eggs, one theory was sure: Roland wanted to harm Bog and Marianne's child and probably have one of his own children take over the throne and give their father the royalty he wanted all his life.

When the sun started to set on the horizon, Bog started to unfold his wings. "I should get back to the castle. Marianne might get worried sick and I don't think she needs extra anxiety, especially when she might give birth anytime now."

Sunny gave Bog a warm smile. "Ok. I'll see you later then. And do warn Dawn that I might be coming back home late unless there's an emergency."

"I will."

The goblin flew off the Rocky Tower to the Bogfae Palace, where his wife was waiting for him.

The Bogfae Palace was the biggest foundation in the entire. It was built, financed, and offered by the Fairy King, Marianne's father, and Griselda, Lysander's mother, as a wedding gift when the interspecies couple got married. It was there that the new royals have lived, governed, hosted seasonal parties for everyone in the kingdom, and built the Primrose Chapel where the Sugar Plum Fairy now joyfully worked as the main priestess and where Princess Dawn and the elf Sunny were married three years after the one of the Bog King and his Queen.

From the outside, it looked like two white boulders connected with dark, twirling branches, with carved windows and doors where any fairy or goblin or elf could go in and out at their leisure. Behind the palace stood an arena where soldiers now trained and the new Seelie Games took place. It would also be there that the new heir would practice and train in combat; that's right, the Bog King and his Queen weren't planning on raising their child cooped up in a palace being spoiled all day long. The child would be like the parents: strong-willed, independent, and able to take care of himself or herself, and take charge when the kingdom might be in danger. After all, that's how the Bog King and his Queen were when they met and look what happened to them.

As the Bog King Lysander flew his way to the Main Entrance of the Bogfae Palace, he took a quick glance of the gardens that circled the palace in swooshing patterns, full of bushes cut into shapes and patterned ranges of diversity of flowers. His favorite section was the Passage of Peace, which had a large land full of Night Violets, the type of flowers that usually grew in the Dark Forest until now. It was exactly the same kind of flower that he gave to his wife when they began to fall in love back when the kingdoms were still separate. That flower was a symbol of the romance that created this kingdom, and Lysander hoped that his child would share that symbol with his or her true love eventually in the future.

His arrival was greeted by his long-time minions, Thang and Stuff (he still couldn't believe that the latter was actually a girl all along). "How's everything, B.K?" Stuff asked.

"Aside from that blasted blonde being nowhere in sight?" the King asked as he flew up a staircase. "Nothing. Is my wife all right?"

"T.G is all right," Stuff called Marianne ' _T.G_ ' which was short for ' _Tough Girl_ '. "She's in the nursery right now."

"Need any help?" Thang asked.

"Aside from telling my sister-in-law that her husband might be running late tonight? No, I don't need anything else…aside from being alone with my wife."

Lysander flew through a few corridors until he reached the door of the chamber that he and Marianne shared. It was also there that the nursery for the baby would be.

He entered the chamber, which mostly consisted of a king sized canopy bed with the shades and bed sheets as purple as Night Violets, a vanity mirror, a few bookshelves full of books, two comfortable chairs, a stone fireplace, and one tapestry that illustrated the wedding of the main royal couple.

Nothing much, really.

At the far end of the room, not too far from the window, stood the nursery, which currently consisted of one crib, a casket that would hold the child's future possessions, and a mobile made of green crystals. The Queen, along with her three fairy companions, was tending to the nursery.

"Shouldn't you be resting as your twenty-three months of pregnancy come to a near end?" Lysander asked teasingly.

The voice of her husband got Marianne's attention and she flew towards him in order to embrace him when she saw he was home.

"I won't be needing rest while I wait for our child to come," she told him as they pulled one another into a gentle, yet passionate kiss.

"How's he or she doing?" Lysander's eyes left those of Marianne to the round stomach that had been growing for almost 2 years now. He gently caressed it, hoping his child could feel it.

"He or she is doing well. Of course, a few kicks indicated that he or she is impatient to come meet us."

Lysander chuckled. "Well, at least he or she as got something in common with my mother."

The two of them laughed at the thought of how Griselda kept complaining ' _How long is going to take for you to give birth to my grandchild?_ ' at least 10 times a day.

"Oh, Marianne. If you knew how happy I am to have this wonderful child with you…"

Marianne gently shushed him as she whispered. "I know, Lysander. And I'm also happy that our child will strongly represent the union of our people after all those years."

The couple happily laughed and was about to share another kiss until Marianne suddenly started collapsing, clinging to her stomach with pain.

"Marianne!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Marianne screamed. "Lysander! I think it's coming!"

"Easy Marianne! I'm here!" He helped her get up and carried her to the bed. The door of the chamber burst open and in came Dawn and the Fairy King.

"What's wrong with my daughter?" the Fairy King exclaimed, his voice full of worry at the sound of his eldest daughter's painful voice.

"It's coming! Get a midwife, quick!"

"I'll go get one as Dawn hurried out of the chamber."

Lysander paced nervously as Dawn, the Fairy King, Griselda, Sunny, Stuff, and Thang stood outside in the hallway, wincing nervously as they heard the screams of Marianne going in labor.

"For Heaven's Sake, will you stop moving like that?" Griselda grumbled to her son. "You're making me even more nervous!"

"In case you haven't noticed, Mother, Marianne is giving birth right now and I'm already getting anxious for both her and our baby! Your comment isn't helping me right now!"

"Don't worry, Lysander," his father-in-law assured him. "My daughter is a tough girl, and if a love potion didn't stop her from remaining herself, than I don't see how one newborn baby…"

He suddenly got cut off by the sounds of a crying baby. Everyone gasped as the Bog King ran back into the chamber. "Marianne!"

"It's a boy, Lysander!"

He rushed by the bedside next to his wife, who was holding in a bundle of blankets the most precious baby he had ever seen. A small creature with dark brown exoskeleton skin like his and small brown claws at the end of its fingers. Like his father, the child had horns that formed the shape of a crown; only the horns were actually of the same color as his mother's hair. A pointy nose and pointy ears were visible on the child. The most beautiful thing about the child was the dragonfly wing with colorful glass-like patterns that shone with colors similar to those of Marianne's wings.

The little prince opened his eyes, revealing the brown hazel color that he got from his mother. He laughed and cooed when he saw his parents together in front of him.

Lysander nearly cried with joy as he gently caressed his son's cheek. "Marianne…he's…he's wonderful."

Marianne smiled at her husband. "We know his last name is Bogfae. What do you want to call him?"

He didn't hesitate to answer. "Marius. I want him to be named Marius…after his mother."

Marianne sighed in happiness as she cuddled their son in her arms. "Marius Bogfae. It's perfect."


	3. Roland Crashes The Festival

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 3: Roland Crashes the Festival

The entire kingdom was in the celebratory mood.

The birth of Prince Marius Bogfae was declared a national holiday. Schools were closed for the day, the elves and goblins prepared a grand festival greater than the one they usually make for the Spring Ball, and fairies were hanging flower-and-thorn ornaments from the Bogfae Palace to the local town. The rocky streets were bursting with excited citizens, for the royal couple were going to visit the people and present their son to them before going to the Primrose Chapel back at the Palace where the Sugar Plum Fairy would baptize the new prince.

Finally, it was time for the royal parade. Cheers were heard everywhere when fairy soldiers opened the parade, followed by little elf girls throwing flowers to the crowd, and goblins carrying the banners of the kingdom.

Then came the golden carriage decorated with Night Violets and primroses, pulled by hummingbirds as their fairy coach guided them, where the new royal family was sitting. The Bog King Lysander was in his usual attire (minus the dark cape that he wore only for special occasions), with one hand holding his family's scepter and the other on the back of Queen Marianne. The new mother was wearing the same rose purple dress that her own mother had worn when Marianne and Dawn were born and was holding her son in her arms. The royals smiled to the public as they cheered to the happy baby.

"Long live the Bog King! Long live the Fairy Queen! Long live Prince Marius Bogfae!"

So went on the cheers until they reached the footsteps of the Primrose Chapel, where the rest of the royal family and the Sugar Plum Fairy were waiting.

The 10-foot tall Primrose Chapel was the largest holy place in the kingdom and the second largest foundation after the Bogfae Palace. The altar was composed of stone and primrose carvings and had a blue candelabrum on it. From the main doors to the altar stood the benches where the guests sat: the royal family on the right side and friends on the left side. On the upper deck stood a group of choir elves and fairies singing holy songs while Brutus the Goblin played the organ. The greatest part of the masterpiece was the stained glass artwork above the altar that represented Queen Marianne and the Bog King Lysander falling in love and uniting the once separate kingdoms.

Everyone watched with happiness and excitement as the regal parents brought Marius to the Sugar Plum Fairy, who proceeded in the baptism speech. Marianne's father saw happy his daughter was as she held his new grandson. Dawn and Sunny held hands and smiled at each other as Sugar Plum recited the history of the new kingdom. Good-old Griselda fidgeted impatiently as Sugar Plum finally began the ending part of her speech.

"We mark history, as the first goblin fairy hybrid to have ever existed was born from the Bog King and Fairy Queen. By the new laws, I baptize and pronounce you Prince Marius Bogfae, official heir of the throne. You have…"

Before the Sugar Plum Fairy could even give her blessing to the baby, a figure suddenly crashed through the stained glass masterpiece, ruining its beauty, and knocked over the Sugar Plum Fairy, grabbing Marius in the process. People gasped in shock and horror when they saw that it was none other than the arrogant Roland who crashed the merry event.

Lysander and Marianne grabbed their scepter and sword and aimed at Roland. "RELEASE MY SON, YOU SCUMBAG!" Marianne hollered in anger as she tried to grab her son.

Roland looked at the prince and asked in a disgusted tone: "You call that beastly thing a prince? It would have been better if it was completely made of fairy blood." He started pulling out a vial of blue liquid from his ruined armor and started uncorking it on top of the baby.

"NO!" the royals screamed in unison as they tried to grab Marius. Roland, unfortunately, was too quick for them: he flew up on the ceiling, still with the baby in his clutches, and smirked. "Sorry. I won't fall for this again." Then, out of nowhere, Griselda through a rock at Roland, causing him to lose balance and let go of the baby, allowing Sugar Plum to grab him.

"Nobody hurts _my_ grandson under _my_ watch," she said.

Tragically, the liquid fell on the baby during the process. Marius began crying out loud as it dissolved into him.

"Oh, no!" Sugar Plum cried, handing Marius over to his worried parents. "Not the Stone Heart Curse!"

"What have you done to my son!" the Bog King demanded.

"I gave him what a beast like him deserved: a heart of stone. Every time he gets his heart broken, the little monster starts to love less until his heart hardens to stone…literally…and he dies!" He laughed evilly as the crowd gasped in horror and the baby kept crying.

"Remove that spell at once!" Marianne's father demanded.

"Sadly, I won't. Unless you consider replacing that runt by one of my children for the throne, I won't give you the antidote." He flew away through the broken window and said before leaving: "Once the beast is gone, the kingdom will go back to what it once was before: perfectly clear of hideous beasts!"

"After him!" Lysander shouted. Fairy knights and goblins went after Roland as Lysander, Sugar Plum, and the rest of the family went to console a crying Marianne as she held Marius tightly in her arms.


	4. Titania And Oberon

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 4: Titania And Oberon

The celebrations were cancelled after Roland's attack, much to everyone's chagrin. The entire despaired royal family rushed to the nearest healing center, in the hopes that the healers and the Sugar Plum Fairy could remove the curse from Marius, only to end up with fruitless results.

"It's hopeless," Dawn sobbed. "Neither the healers nor the Sugar Plum Fairy could remove the curse from his heart. Marius is doomed."

"There has to be a solution!" Griselda insisted in an angered tone. "I've waited way too long to have a grandchild and I'm not gonna lose him the next day."

Lysander and Marianne turned to Sugar Plum. The former love potion maker had a sad look on her face. She felt terrible for not being able to cure the baby herself but what could she do? Aside from flying and shape-shifting, her only true magical power was the fabrication of love potions using primrose petals. She didn't do dangerous potions like the one of the Stone Heart Curse.

"Please, Sugar Plum," Marianne begged. "My son needs an antidote for that curse."

"I'm afraid I can't do anything, Your Majesty. I'm only familiar with love potions…"

"No wonder your magic is so messed up!" Griselda cut in.

"SHUT UP, MOTHER!" the Bog King shouted in exasperated anger.

"BUT!" Sugar Plum lifted a finger. "I think that Lady Titania and Lord Oberon might be able to give us the cure."

"Titania and Oberon? As in _the_ Titania and Oberon?' Sunny asked. The mention of the names surprised everyone except Griselda, Sugar Plum, and Bog King Lysander.

"Who are they?" the latter asked.

"They're the _very_ first fairies to have walked this realm or any of the other realms in the universe," Sunny explained. "They are the mother and father of all the fairies and elves. Matter of fact, the world we live in was created by Oberon himself. He and his wife are practically gods."

"They're also those that assign specific fairies with magical powers that are transmitted from generation to generation," Sugar Plum added. "Titania was the one who gave my ancestor the ability to craft love potions with primroses while Oberon gave the cure."

"You're telling me that your entire family crafted love potions?" Griselda retorted. "No wonder you're so messed up!"

Sugar Plum ignored her. "The point is, with every magic they created or gave away, there is always a cure. They should have the cure for the Stone Heart Curse."

"Where do they reside?" Marianne asked in a hopeful voice.

"At the northern end of this world. It's easy to go there if you go up the former borderline.

A few minutes later, Lysander and Marianne, the latter carrying their son in their arms, flew after Sugar Plum at a very fast speed in order to reach the end of the world.

During the days when the kingdoms were still separate, the northern areas of the Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest were the least occupied. The temperature there clashed from warm to cold then warm to cold again nonstop, which was inconvenient for fairies, with their preference for warm weather and their butterfly wings unable to handle the cold, and for goblins, who prefer damp humidity. There was also no existing border in the northern region, so the branches of the Dark Forest were clashing with those of the Fairy Kingdom to the point were they made scarier versions of the thorn bushes in the Dark Forest. Grey grass and clouds covered the environment and no living creature was around.

A horrible wasteland, really.

"I would have never believed that supreme fairies like Titania and Oberon would live here," the Bog King said as they flew even further.

"You know what they say," Sugar Plum shrugged. "Where mortals don't go is where gods go." They kept flying until they saw something at the horizon: an iridescent light similar to the one that the Sugar Plum Fairy emitted, only in different shades of blue and purple. "There they are."

The group got closer and saw an giant, old oak tree with leaves that shone with the exact light that they saw. Carved within the trunks from the roots were two thrones, each occupied by a giant figure. The first one was a man who could have been Marianne's father due to the similar hairstyle and beard, only his hair was white and the man was slender and younger. He wore a fairy-style armor with a belt and cape made of thorns. Dark dragonfly wings rested behind his back. This was none other than Oberon, the father of all fairies.

At his side sat a young woman with green, flowing hair, wearing a dress made entirely of leaves, poppies, roses, and primroses and a pearl necklace. Her dark blue butterfly wings hung behind her back in an elegant manner. This was Titania.

Lysander and Marianne looked in awe at the two gigantic fairies, both holding on the same scepter made of stone and carvings, shining with glory that contrasted the sad wasteland.

Sugar Plum walked towards them and bowed. "My lord and lady, we are honored to meet you…" she began.

"We know. We were expecting you," Oberon politely cut in. His voice was deep and hollow.

"You…were expecting us?" Marianne asked with surprise.

"Indeed, Fairy Queen Marianne of The New Kingdom," Titania replied in a soft, but firm voice. "You and your husband, the Bog King Lysander came to find a cure for the Stone Heart Curse that has affected the heart of your son Marius Bogfae."

The royal couple was surprised but nodded to Titania's response.

"Bring him forward," Oberon said.

Marianne flew towards the deities, carrying her son in her arms, and showed Marius to them. With his free index, Oberon gently touched the forehead of the baby.

"A well-mixed hybrid that is barely one day old. His parents' courage, determination, leadership, and fighting skills flow in his veins. There is benevolence in his heart and soul." He listed before removing his index. The royal parents smiled until it was Titania's turn to use her free index on Marius, only this time, she touched his chest.

"But there is also the arrogance and stubbornness that his parents once had. The villainy that once made the Bog King feared by all also flows in his veins. These will get worse when the Stone Heart's Curse affects him twice," the fairy goddess said after she removed her index.

"Twice?" Lysander asked worryingly.

"The first will be when a lover breaks his heart," Oberon explained. "The second will be when Fate chooses to pull him away from his family. Each heartbreak will make him more hateful and villainous until the curse has officially turned the heart into a hard stone that will eventually dissolve into ashes, thus killing the prince."

Marianne sobbed as she clung to her son, who fell asleep from being touched by the gods. As Lysander went to comfort his wife, Sugar Plum begged the deities: "Please, isn't there a cure?"

"Only one," Titania said. The travelers, minus Marius, looked at her. "Alone, he must follow the similar footsteps of his parents. With his own friends, we will thrive. With an act meant for his one and only true love, his heart will be cured."

"But until then," Oberon added, "make sure he lives. He's the essential key to keep the peace of the New Kingdom intact."

Lysander nodded. "We will. There's no denying."


	5. Narrator's Recap

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 5: Narrator's Recap

It was tragic for the kingdom. The news of the cursed prince and the nearly impossible cure was shared among the people. Many felt terrible for their new heir while others desired to kill Roland and his progenies should they ever be seen again.

Despite the Stone Heart Curse lurking within Marius' organism, waiting for the moment when the victim would be brokenhearted, his parents made sure he still lived a happy life without any worries. He grew up to be a very particular goblin fairy hybrid: his physical appearance came from his goblin side, but his fairy side also gave him handsome features that were above the usual for each side. The most impressive though were his wings. Whenever he flew, rays of light would reflect on the multicolored folds of his wings and cause a trail of illuminating light, which hinted passerbys.

Three or four years after the incident at the Primrose Chapel, it was his Aunt Dawn and Uncle Sunny's turn to have their own child. They had a daughter named Daylight and, like her cousin, she was the first of a brand new species of hybrids: elf fairy hybrids. Whenever they weren't dealing with royal duties or combat training (Marius had inherited his parents' fighting skills; Daylight found it more interesting to learn how to defend herself than to pursue boys unlike her mother when the latter was around Daylight's age), they mostly hung out together and were practically best friends.

While the royal family was full of joy to see the heirs being raised with a happy, they could help but feel nervous about Roland's curse affecting Marius at any moment. What especially scared Queen Marianne and Bog King Lysander was the approach of the last remaining teenage years of Marius: even before the new kingdom was founded, it was traditional for the habitants of both the Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest to find a potential partner and spouse during the last remaining teenage years. The only ones who broke that tradition were Marianne and the Bog King due to their brokenhearted experiences. The former had barely reached her early twenties and the latter was about a decade older than her when they were married.

It was only a matter of time before he found someone who would catalyst his curse.


	6. Helena

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 6: Helena

 _Sixteen years after the Primrose Chapel Incident_

Marius could only see darkness as he lifted his sword, waiting for the right moment to strike. He listened until he swung his sword and a metallic clang was heard. Daylight lost her balance for a few moments until she straightened herself up, held on to her sword, and kept striking her blindfolded cousin.

They were in the arena, practicing swordfighting. After what seemed hours of practicing dueling and defense, they had gone to the part where they were practicing fighting without using their eyes to observe their surroundings. Marius was impossible to defeat for Daylight so far. He's blocked all of her sword attacks, jumped when she tried flying towards him in order to knock him down, and spun his sword from one hand to the other if he knew that Daylight had switched her attacking position.

"I wield!" Daylight panted. "I give up, Marius."

Marius grinned as he began to pull off his blindfold. Daylight took the liberty to attempt a direct attack at her cousin. The only problem was that he grabbed her sword by the blade when it was a few inches away from him and swung it across the arena, with Daylight screaming as she still clung on to her sword. Thank goodness she had her wings to use as brakes.

"Seriously, Marius! You nearly got me killed!"

The goblin fairy hybrid chuckled as he removed his entire blindfold. His hazel eyes looked amused as the elf fairy hybrid flew back towards him. "Not my fault if I have to stay on my guards," he teased.

He flew towards the first row of seats in the area, where he grabbed a canteen full of water and drank. Daylight went to join him.

Like her cousin, she was a combination of two different species. On the elf side, she was approximately four feet tall, which was tall in elf standards and small in fairy standards. Daylight had her father's skin color and four fingers on each hand. She preferred to wear the homely brown that elves wore when it came to pants. On the fairy side, she had her mother's physical shape, facial features, and blue eyes. Her wings resembled those of a _Speyeria zerene_ butterfly. Daylight liked to wear tops with the same, bright blue color and golden designs that her mother Dawn wore daily. As a mixture of the two sides, her hair was fairy short with pointy ends and had strands of blonde and black hair.

"I feel weak," Daylight complained. "I'll never be good in combat like you Marius." She grabbed her own canteen and grumpily drank all of its content.

Marius gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. "It's alright, Daylight," he said. "To be honest, I nearly died when I practiced fighting with my father."

Daylight arched an eyebrow. "When was that?"

"When I was five. You were still a little toddler learning how to make flower boutonnieres with your mom."

"Hey! You like making boutonnieres too, mister!" the elf fairy hybrid teased.

Marius slightly blushed. As much as he was an expert in fighting like his parents, he did enjoy making flower boutonnieres with his cousin and aunt and was quite adequate at it, unlike his mother. The only men in the family who were quite surprised at Marius' habit of making boutonnieres when he wasn't combat training during his free time were his Uncle Sunny and his maternal grandfather. They were mostly surprised because crafting boutonnieres was a girl thing for _female_ fairies. Marius' father didn't really mind. Personally, the Bog King liked boutonnieres ever since he'd receive one from both his wife and sister-in-law when he was still reigning solely in the Dark Forest; he even kept as a collection all the flower boutonnieres that his son had made for him on special occasions like birthdays, Father's Day, and seasonal holidays, on a shelf in his chamber.

The sun was starting to set above the arena. Light was reflecting on the stone seats as Daylight and Marius finished the last of their water canteens.

"Sunsets are always the best parts of the day in my opinion," Daylight commented as she looked at the colorful clouds. "With all the dark blue and pinkish clouds setting on the horizon…Marius? What's wrong?" She said this when she noticed that her fairy goblin cousin suddenly gasped.

"I forgot! Daylight, we were supposed to be back to the palace by sunset for an important dinner discussion!" Marius quickly grabbed his canteen and spread his wings open. "We have to go!"

"Oh no! You're right! I forgot as well! That will teach me to have my head in the clouds!" Daylight muttered as they flew off at high speed.

"You didn't have your head in the clouds. You were talking about clouds…"

"Still the same."

They barely flew a few feet away from the arena when something accidently bumped into Marius, making him lose balance. He was lucky that Daylight caught him in time before he hit the ground.

"Marius! Are you alright?"

"I'm terribly sorry!" A female voice said. "I didn't mean to pump into you!"

Marius and Daylight looked to see a particular fairy. She had fair skin, like most of the other normal fairies, green eyes, and golden short hair with a purple streak. She wore a long green leaf shirt over a pair of purple pants and brown boots. Her wings were like those of a _Caligo Prometheus_ and she had a sword hanging on the side of her left hip.

"It's alright," Marius said generously. "We didn't see you there."

"Allow me to introduce myself," the fairy curtsied. "My name is Helena. I'm a student at the swordfighting academy of Faenity."

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Marius Bogfae and this is my cousin Daylight Elfae." Marius bowed to Helena and motioned to his cousin who didn't respond.

"Oh my! I can't believe it! I'm talking to the heirs of the kingdom, who are bowing to me while I should be bowing to them!" She nervously bowed to them.

"Oh, it's not necessary, Ms. Helena," Marius told the fairy.

"Indeed, because we are late to go back home," Daylight said skeptically. She grabbed her cousin by the arm and pulled him away from Helena as they flew away. "Come on, Marius!"

"I hope to see you soon, your Majesties," Helena said before she left off as well.

Marius yanked his hand away from Daylight. "What is wrong with you, Daylight? You were being rude!"

Daylight gave a disbelieving look at her cousin. "Excuse me? **HELLO** , am I the only one who thinks that there is something fishy about that Helena?" She snapped her thumb and index at Marius. "Didn't you learn of what happened to your mom when she met Roland? He goes all nice façade and prince charming like towards her and she was so blinded by love that she didn't realize he only wanted to marry her for the crown until she caught him cheating on their wedding day. Don't be fooled by her the same way your mom was. Be a bit more suspicious!"

Marius sighed in annoyance as they flew back to the castle. "Fine. I will. But please stop acting like you're my babysitter."

Daylight looked at him with concern in her eyes. "Marius, I'm your cousin. I care for you and I just don't want you to be heartbroken. That's all."

 _Narrator:_ Daylight was right to be suspicious about Helena. For one, there was no such thing as the Faenity Academy. Daylight had visited all the kingdom's schools during a royal tour with her parents and she had never seen such a school. For two, Helena seemed like she was being over-dramatic when addressing Marius. And for three, her wings were flapping like those of a butterfly. They flapped in four different directions, like the wings of a dragonfly or a flea.

And just as the cousins were flying back to the Bogfae palace, Helena was looking at them from the shadows underneath an old oak's roots with a dark figure standing next to her.

"He's starting to fall for it," she told the dark figure with an evil smirk.

"Excellent, sister," the figure said. "Our plan will soon take action. Marius Bogfae _will_ die."


	7. a Royal Absence

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 7: A Royal Absence

The two cousins flew back to the Bogfae Palace. As soon as they were seen approaching, especially Marius, the guards made way for them at the main entrance. Few members of the royal court, mostly consisting of fairies and goblins and a few elves, stood back in surprise as they made way for the royals who were flying at such speed in order to avoid lateness.

"There you are!"

Griselda found them, much to their dismay. Not that they didn't like old Grannyselda, but her comments and matchmaking habits were annoying for them.

"Where have you two been?" Griselda squeezed Marius tightly by the waist, nearly suffocating him.

"Grannyselda! I can't breathe!" he choked.

"Sorry!" Griselda let go, only to give such a similar hug to Daylight. "Now hurry up! Dinner hasn't started yet, but you two should have been here about an hour ago!"

"I'm sorry, Grannyselda," Marius said, taking the responsibility. "I didn't see the time passing so quickly…"

"Well now you know to watch the time better. Now hurry up!"

Griselda led the children through a few hallways until they reached the throne room, where Marius could see his father the Bog King discuss matters with a few dignitaries. Every time Marius saw his father outside of family moments, he saw him as a great, strong leader who led the people fairly and with great determination. The visualized image of the great, benevolent king was the vision of what type of ruler Marius wished to become.

Once they entered the throne room, something flew right in front of Griselda like lightning, knocking her off her feet.

"Grannyselda! Are you all right?" Daylight asked as she and Marius helped their grandmother get up.

"Blast those dark fairies!" Griselda said, holding her fist in the air at the dark fairy who knocked her off her feet.

Dark fairies were a special type of fairies. Unlike their distant cousin fairies from the Fairy Kingdom, dark fairies possessed no butterfly wings but triangular ones that looked as if they were made of an assembly of glass shards whenever light reflected on the. Their skin colors when to the palest that could relate with death. Their clothes had a few ragged spots and were mostly dark colored. Like the Sugar Plum Fairy, they were given magical powers, but for another reason. They used their powers to travel within other realms and cast spells on whoever lived in those realms; worse, they even stole infants for who knows what. Griselda mostly didn't like Dark Fairies due to her disbelief in using magic as a solution for everything. But what could she do? Dark fairies had been a part of the Dark Forest court from the dawn of time, even when her husband was still alive. Plus, Dark fairies were the only fairies that goblins accepted within their kingdom until the separate kingdoms united.

The dark fairy flew toward them. Her grayish hair was tied up in a ponytail with a long bang on the right side of her head. She wore a grey shirt with long, skinny sleeves, the fabric torn on top of the shoulders, thus revealing her pale blue skin, and a dark blue scarf. Her white pants had blue-and-grey patterns of leaves and her wedges were of the same color, except the blue was much darker. She wore a hairclip and earrings that matched the pattern of her pants.

"You seem to be in a very good mood, Darcy Fae," Marius said calmly.

Darcy's grey lips widened into a smile that combined cheer and sinister. "I am, Your Majesty. I finally get to go to my dream school."

"Your dream school?" Daylight frowned.

"My main goal in life is to be quite a bad Dark Fairy. And what could be a better way to learn how to be bad in any other place but Villains High?"

"Never heard of it. And I've visited all the schools in the kingdom."

"That's because it's in another realm," Darcy pointed out. "The realm is occupied by villains or anti-heroes of all kind. Villains High is the ideal boarding school for the children of villains or anti-heroes to go to, whether they are supposed to commit evil similar to those of their parents or completely follow every footstep."

"No wonder you're eager to go there," Marius said flatly. "My father has told me of all the things you dark fairies do: curses, baby-theft, mischief…"

Darcy grinned. "I know. You should consider going there, Your Majesty."

Marius nearly flinched but remained his position. That dark fairy was daring to suggest that he, who wanted to do nothing evil in life, should attend a school full of nothing but villainy.

"Now why would I do that?" Marius asked flatly.

For the first time during the entire conversation, Darcy stopped smiling and gave a serious look, which made the two cousins a bit nervous.

"Your Majesty, your father the Bog King was a villain long before the Dark Forest and the Fairy Kingdom united. Don't you remember the stories? Of how he imprisoned the Sugar Plum Fairy, destroyed all the primroses in order to prevent the making of love potions, made love illegal in the Dark Forest, and wanted to annihilate love itself?" Darcy then turned to Daylight. "And do you know how he kidnapped your mother, princess Dawn, and threatened to harm her if the last love potion wasn't returned to him?"

"THAT"S ENOUGH WITH YOUR NONSENSE, DARK FAIRY!" Griselda shoved Darcy Fae aside. Griselda's voice caught the attention of everyone in the room, who looked at the group in confusion. A dark fairy excused herself and left, summoning Darcy, who followed her. Judging by how close they were, Marius assumed that it was the mother of Darcy Fae.

After the dignitaries left, the Bog King went to join the three of them.

"What did you do again, Mother?" he asked Griselda sternly.

Marius spoke in order to avoid another mess made by his grandmother. "It was nothing, Father. Just a trifle. So what was that discussion you wanted to talk about?"

 _Time skip_

"You're leaving?"

Marius nearly choked on his nectar when his father said that he and Marius' mother would be leaving for a diplomatic travel. He wasn't the only one among the royal family at the dinner table to be surprised by the announcement of the sovereigns.

"It will only be for a week or two," the Queen tried to assure her son. "Your father and I need to deal with a few businesses outside of the kingdom. That's all."

"What type of business is it, Marianne?" Dawn asked.

Marianne gave a deadly glare at her sister that said _Quit it!_

"Never mind," Dawn said.

"Well, there's no need to make a fuss about it," Marianne's father said after finishing his plate. "The kingdom will be well taken care off during your absence."

"It will," the Bog King nodded, "because Marius will supervise it for us temporarily."

This time, Marius took a spit take really hard.

"WHAT?" he stammered. "Father, you and Mother really trust me enough to manage the entire kingdom?"

"We don't see why not," Marianne said. "After all, you are getting close to the beginning of your adult years. Soon, you will become King."

"Consider it as a practice to experience ruling and dealing with royal responsibilities before you ascend on the throne," Lysander added. "We have complete trust in you."

All eyes turned on Marius, who felt nervous to respond. On one side, it was an opportunity to show his parents that he could lead a kingdom the same way they did every day. On the other hand, he felt nervous that he'd make a fiasco out of it. Plus, he was beginning to question whether or not Darcy Fae had made a point of him most likely inheriting his father's previous villainy.

There was only one way to find out.

"Alright. I'll do my best to keep the kingdom in shape while you're gone," Marius told his parents, who smiled at his response.


	8. Departing With Worries

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 8: Departing with Worries

Queen Marianne and Bog King weren't leaving for a diplomatic mission, as they had claimed.

No, they were going to see Titania and Oberon. After sixteen years since they met the deities, they wanted to go back to consult them about their son's curse. His seventeenth birthday was still many months away, and the laws were inquiring that he soon found a potential partner to be betrothed to and become a perfect queen for the kingdom's future king. But with the curse and all, Marianne and Lysander feared that Marius might get his heart broken and filled with anger and hatred.

As they were doing a few last preparations before they left, they heard a knock coming from their chamber's door. The sovereigns looked at each other in confusion as they let the person behind the door come in. Their niece daylight came in and she looked rather worried.

"Daylight? Is everything alright, my niece?" the Bog King asked.

"Concerns, my uncle," Daylight responded politely.

A look of worry appeared on the king and queen's faces.

"What type of concerns, Daylight?" Marianne asked.

"It's about Marius. Some fairy named Helena tried to make advances on him earlier today."

That got the sovereigns worried.

"Are you certain?" the Bog King asked, his tone getting serious.

"I'm positive, my uncle. I feared he nearly fell for her until we went back to the palace. This Helena doesn't seem trustworthy to me. She claims to attend the 'swordfighting academy of Faenity' and yet this school doesn't exist."

"If she's already giving out lies of her education, than this Helena is no doubt bringing trouble with her." The Bog King was pacing around the room as he said so. Daylight and her aunt looked at each other nervously.

"Daylight, keep an eye on Marius," the latter said as she placed her hands on her niece's shoulders. "Make sure he doesn't do anything dangerous like courting Helena. For his sake, make sure he **doesn't propose to anyone** while we're gone!"

Daylight promised to keep an eye on her cousin while they were gone. Assured that their son and their kingdom would be safe, they left for their 'diplomatic mission'. Unbeknown to them, the sovereigns were seen leaving through binoculars by a few shadows, grinning at the future success of their plan.


	9. Day One Of A Temporary King

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 9: Day One Of A Temporary King

Marius woke up nervously the next day. Now that his parents left for their diplomatic mission, he was now the new authority in charge during their absence. While struggling with the anxiety within him, he went to his father's office after breakfast. Paperwork was what the Bog King did during the mornings ever since he became king of the new kingdom.

The goblin fairy hybrid opened the golden doors and stepped inside the office, where a large mahogany desk with thorny legs and a spiral-design chair greeted him. The light coming from the large, open windows revealed that the only things in the office aside from the desk and its chair were a couple of armchairs resting near a chimney with a fire in it, a stack of drawers, and one large tapestry that depicted the Bog King Lysander, his Fairy Queen Marianne, and their son Marius Bogfae. Just by looking at the tapestry made Marius miss his parents even more.

But he had business to do.

He walked towards his father's desk, where he found a note facing the chair. He picked the piece of paper and read its content, recognizing his father's handwriting.

 _Marius,_

 _Good luck on your first week as substitute king. In the left drawer under the desk, you will find a schedule of the daily work that a king must do. Don't be nervous to ask questions to your family members or any of the court members and advisors. They will be there if you need any help._

 _Your mother and I are very proud of you no matter what._

 _See you in a week._

 _Love,_

 _Father_

On the bright side, his parents were giving him support for his first time. The bad part was that they were 100% confident that he'd make a great king.

 _Well, I'd better get started with it,_ he thought. He sat on the chair and opened the drawer where his father kept the week's schedule. Judging by all the content, Marius had a lot of work to do.

 _Sometime in the beginning of the afternoon_

Marius was focusing on the last remaining paperwork when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said. The door opened and Daylight came in, carrying a tray with food and drinks.

"Hey, Marius," she said with a warm smile. "I thought that a quick meal would strengthen you up a bit."

"Thank you, Daylight," Marius thanked his cousin, yet still focusing on the last business scroll. "Just put the tray over there, near the fireplace."

"Wow, in less than 6 hours, you're starting to sound like your dad!" Daylight teased as she placed the tray where her cousin indicated.

"Is that a bad thing?" Marius stacked the finished papers together before classifying them in specific drawers.

"Nope. Actually, it means that you're starting to become good on learning the job. Even the paperwork that you submitted to the kingdom's executive authorities haves a positive effect on the people. The one you made for taxes? They analyzed it and saw how well detailed and calculated your recommendations were. The people love it!"

Marius was feeling happy that his first services to the kingdom were starting off well. He looked at the rest of the schedule in confidence now, certain that he'd make it during the rest of his first day as substitute king.

"Looks like I'm going to make it after all," he said, receiving an encouraging smile from his cousin.

 _Around sunset_

The rest of the day went well for Marius. After lunch, he went to visit the kingdom's industrial area in the Dark Forest, where all the hard-stoned products such as weapons, utensils, and other daily-life products were made, in order to have an inspection on the workers' conditions and the status of their wages so that he could make an eventual decision of how to improve these conditions. Then, he participated in a long meeting with the court advisors in order to discuss any ideas involving law enforces. Lastly, he offered a plan to enforce a health care right for the citizens, especially for those at the Grand Oak Hospital.

Bystanders saw his actions, whether they were a part of the court or commoners, and admired quite well that they were eventually shared throughout the kingdom. Marius was now a new vision of the kingdom's success to the people.

' _The prince takes actions into his own hands with great responsibility, just like his father,'_ a goblin told his friends.

' _The kingdom will be prosperous when he ascends on the throne,'_ a fairy told his elf wife and their hybrid children.

' _He's the spitting image of Marianne and Lysander,"_ Marius' uncle Sunny told many agreeing court members with pride.

Now that his Day One activities were done, Marius went to take a relaxing flight over his favorite section in the entire kingdom: a field of poppies, without a single hint of habitation, that moved with the current of the summer breeze like a tide of waves made of red flowers. Marius loved coming here. It was there where he and his parents spend late afternoons together when he was still a little youngling. He still had sweet memories of when he was three-years-old and he flew for the first time. The look of joy he and his father had when they saw his unique little wings flap in a dragonfly way and leaving a trail of illuminating purplish light. His mother was laughing as she sat on a rock and watched her husband play with his son.

Yes, Marius Bogfae really enjoyed coming here, in this wonderland full of serenity and good memories…

"Your Majesty?" a voice cut in and interrupted his moment of peace. He turned to give an angry look to the one who bothered him, but the anger disappeared when he saw that it was none other than Helena, the fairy he met yesterday.

"Helena? What…what a surprise!" Marius stammered as she stood in front of him, her green eyes staring into his hazel ones. "I didn't know you came here. I thought I was alone."

Helena frowned. "Well…I actually come here to practice swordfighting. You know…when you learn with a dozen other students at the academy of Faenity, you usually want a private section to practice. And here is the perfect place, away from any other snooper… all alone…" She had gotten inches closer to Marius, which made him cringe in discomfort.

"This area was where my parents and I spend time together when I was a child," he said in a flat tone. He froze when he realized that he was using a rather rude tone to a person who didn't mean any offense to him.

"I'm terribly sorry," he bowed his head in apology. "I didn't mean to make you unwelcomed."

The fairy smiled. "It's alright, Your Majesty. The place means a lot to you, and I understand that. Next time, I'll make sure to ask permission to come here."

"Of course." Marius smiled back.

"Perhaps you could teach me how to swordfight? I'd be honored to learn from the best."

The prince accepted her proposition, not realizing that he was falling into the net of a terrible plot.


	10. The Curse Is About To Start

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 10: The Curse Is About To Start

 _A week passed_

"Evil is about to knock on the door," Oberon said solemnly, his eyes looking at the conflicting clouds.

Queen Marianne and Bog King Lysander raised their eyes in worry as the fairy deity spoke. For an entire week, he and Titania had been occulting the clouds, their source of predicting the future. It was now the last day of the royals 'diplomatic mission' and right when they were about to say good-bye to the gods, Oberon had read something terrible in the clouds.

"What do you mean, my Lord?" Marianne asked in a worried tone. "Does it involve our son?"

"Yes," Oberon nodded. "The curse…it's beginning…today."

Dread, horror, and anxiousness mixed together as one horrible terror appeared on the faces of the interspecies royals.

"MARIUS!" they cried in unison.

"WE HVE TO GO!" Lysander screamed. His wife nodded and the couple flew back to the kingdom at an incredible speed, ignoring Titania's call to wait.

"It's too late, my love," the fairy god told his wife when the mortals were officially out of sight.

"If only they knew what I saw in the clouds," Titania sighed sadly. "His heart got broken by broken by Roland's offspring. Only a villain's love can cure his heart now."

"Then let us hope that the fates send him to the realm of villains to find the cure. For his evil genetics are wakening."

 _Several minutes later_

Marianne and Lysander dashed towards the main entrance of the Bogfae Palace, knocking a couple guards on the way. Passing servants and courtsmen barely dodged in order to avoid the quick flying monarchs. They barged inside Lysander's office. Marius wasn't there.

"I hope we aren't too late," Queen Marianne said nervously.

"Let's check his chamber," the Bog King suggested. "Hopefully, he might be there."

He soon wished that he wasn't correct. When they arrived in front of the doors leading to their son's chamber, they found the rest of the family gathered in a group that was anything but joyful. Dawn was cuddling her daughter Daylight, who was sobbing uncontrollably in her hands, while Sunny was watching them with concern. Marianne's father was pacing in circles nervously while Griselda was muttering something that sounded like _I knew things would end badly._

"What's going on?" Marianne asked. Everyone turned to see the returning couple.

"Marianne! Lysander! Thank the gods, you're back!" the Fairy King said, hugging his eldest daughter.

"Where's Marius? Is he alright?" Lysander looked nervously at their family.

Barely anyone spoke, except Daylight, who kept sobbing in her mother's arms.

"I…I failed," she said through each sob. "I…couldn't stop it…"

"Stop what?" Marianne placed her concerned hands on her niece's shoulders.

"Helena. I knew something was wrong about her…But…I was too late. She and her siblings got Marius in their coils, like a larva to a nest of wasps."

"What do you mean? Was he kidnapped?" Lysander demanded.

"No. She played with him…" Daylight sniffed. "Helena broke Marius' heart…She…she was…Roland's daughter."

Thunder and rain were heard from the outside as the Bog King and Fairy Queen looked devastated.


	11. The Prince's Heart Hardens

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 11: The Prince's Heart Hardens

Marius punched his bedchamber's vanity mirror and watched as several shards cascaded onto the ground and broke into more pieces.

How could he have been so foolish? What made him think that he could relive his parents' romance by developing feelings for the first half-fairy hybrid he encountered who claimed to have swordfighting skills and lied about sharing the prince's same interests? His heart was broken when he went to tell Helena how he felt and when he found her, she was scheming with eight of her brothers and sisters on how to get rid of Marius through the curse that their father Roland infected Marius when he was younger and take over the kingdom.

Although Marius was heartbroken by Helena's treachery, he was angrier with his parents for lying about his curse for almost seventeen years of his entire life. Now, he could feel the curse gnawing his heart as he became more disgusted at the thought of romance being the cause of al of this.

"Marius?" His bedchamber door opened and in came his father. Seeing his son's face full of anger, relief, disappointment, and heartbreak definitely made it clear to the Bog King that talking to Marius wouldn't be easy anymore.

"What else did you lie to me about?" Marius asked angrily. His tired eyes shot daggers at his father, who couldn't believe how Marius was becoming as bad as he was when he was the evil Bog King of the Dark Forest.

"I know you're angry and sad right now, Marius," Lysander said, reaching out to comfort his son only for the latter to pull away rather roughly. "But please hear me out."

"This had better be good," Marius snapped.

"Your mother and I tried to get rid of the Stone Heart Curse, Marius. We honestly tried. We tried consulting the Sugar Plum Fairy and getting Titania and Oberon's help…"

"So you also lied about your 'diplomatic mission'." Marius started to look angrier.

"Marius, it was for your own good…"

"My own good? MY OWN GOOD?!" Marius began shouting. "Because lying to me during my entire life about a fatal curse, working behind my back on it, and letting Roland and his progeny waltz in the woods was for my own good? That's your excuse?"

"Marius…"

"Get out of my room."

The flat reply broke Lysander's spirits. He sighed and left to go out of the bedchamber. He looked one more time at Marius before opening the doors.

"If you're willing to give up romance, I'll understand that. But don't give up on your family" was the last thing he said before closing the doors in front of a hardened Marius.

Marius spent the following months in a rather cold way. He avoided social events and only contributed to the kingdom's needs through paperwork. He only went out to practice swordfighting or fighting in general with Daylight or occasionally one of his parents. Griselda, tired of doing nothing, tried to find a way to end Marius' curse by gathering eligible single women from the entire kingdom. That bothered Marius' parents as much as it annoyed Marius and caused him to have a more alienated relationship with his Grannyselda.

As far as it concerned anyone, Marius was leading himself to his own doom.


	12. Déjà Vu Spring Ball

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 12: Déjà Vu Spring Ball

"Please, Marius?"

"I said no!"

It was the day of the Spring Ball, a day that Marius kept avoiding ever since his heart hardened. The last thing he wanted to go to was that sappy love-season ball that was held every year at the Bogfae Palace. Not like the Spring Ball didn't exist back in the days when the Fairy Kingdom was still separated from the Dark Forest.

"I know you don't want to go, Marius," Daylight kept pleading, "but I'd rather go to the Spring Ball with my cousin than with another guy."

"Can't you just ask your dad?" Marius asked, referring to his Uncle Sunny.

"Dad has an errand to do with Pare and Fufu. He won't be back until later this afternoon, when the Elf Spring Dance takes place. Besides, I want to spend time with you outside of training and locking yourself in your room."

Marius grunted.

"Pretty _please_?" Daylight kept begging, giving her eyes the look of those of a pouty imp.

"No, Daylight! Don't give me the pouty imp face!" Marius scolded, which only encouraged the fairy elf hybrid to do more. The prince groaned in defeat.

"Alright! I'll go with you to the Spring Ball. But this is the last time I'm letting you do this."

Daylight grinned as she hugged her cousin. As much as Marius didn't like the idea of attending the Spring Ball, he did love his cousin very much and really didn't like it when she gave him the pouty imp face. He just had to deal with it.

 _Time skip_

The main ballroom at the Bogfae Palace was full of guests going from fairies to goblins and elves, from members of the court to commoners. Everyone was laughing, chatting, and dancing while the music occasionally changed from the lively, yet soft classical music to the deep, rock one.

"You could at least _pretend_ to smile," Daylight nudged her cousin's elbow. Marius groaned and gave a large, fake smile. His fanged, goblin teeth could be seen.

"Your Majesties!"

Daylight and Marius turned to see Darcy Fae flying towards them.

"Darcy?" Daylight asked surprisingly. "It's been a long time."

"I know," the Dark Fairy said. "It's spring break at Villains High, so I came back home for the holidays. Unfortunately, I have to go back to Villains High later on in the afternoon. But fortunately, I get to attend the Spring Ball before I go."

"So…how was Villains High?" Marius asked. His question made Darcy clasp her hands in excitement.

"It was AMAZING!" Darcy cried giddily. "There are over twenty-five classes that are evil-related and you get to meet other villainous kids from different realms. The culture that livens the realm where the school's located is more different than ours. It took me over two or four weeks to get used to it."

"Excuse me for a second," Daylight said. "I'm going to get myself some tulip nectar. Want some too, Marius?"

"No thank you?" the latter said, making the refusal sign with his hands. As Daylight left them, Marius noticed that each of Darcy's wings had bandages wrapped over some parts of them. A few dark blue stains were visible on them.

"What happened to your wings, Darcy?" Marius asked. His question got the attention of the Dark Fairy and she looked at her wings glumly.

"Oh. I had some…bullying issues at Villains High," Darcy said.

"Let me guess. School of villains means lots of bullying?"

"Well, let's just say that society is…complex in that realm. But I got my wings injured by Villains High most feared student: Penna De Mort."

"Uh. Even the name sounds scary."

"It is. Her name is a pun overall is a pun for the translation 'flight from death' in another language. Her father, Voldemort, is a horrible, ruthless villain and his reputation is known throughout the realms. She finds delight in tormenting others just for the heck of it."

"And people say _I_ lack social skills," Marius said sarcastically. "I assume she has no friends."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Barely. Even with the little amount of…friends she has, she still treats them like minions."

"Looks like school's being tough for you, uh?"

"Not really. Once you get used to ignoring the nasty comments and deal with the pranks, it's almost as if you've doing this your entire life. As for my wings, well, let's just say that Penna 'accidently' spilled a mamba serum on my wings during Potions Chemistry class."

"I hope your wings get better," Marius said sincerely.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Darcy said. "By the way, I heard about that story between you and Roland's daughter. I'm sorry you had to deal with that."

Marius grimaced and his heart ached at the painfully memory. The prince could definetly feel his heartbeats hardening by the minute.

"As much as I hate her treachery, I mostly hate how my parents lied about my curse," he said quietly.

"You know, where I went was a life-changing experience for anyone else who went there," Darcy said quietly. She shuffled through her shirt until she pulled out a thin, layered piece of paper and handed it to the prince. "In case you ever need help to sweep away your issues…"

Marius looked at the paper in curiosity. He really didn't know what to think: this dark fairy was giving him a paper about a school for villains located in another realm, away from his family; yet, she genuinely seemed to believe that it could help the prince.

"I'll…think about it," Marius said as he accepted the paper and hid it underneath his armor.

Daylight came back with a cup of tulip nectar in her hands.

"How was it with Darcy?" she asked Marius.

"A friendly discussion, nothing more," the prince said. "Oh, and her wings are temporarily injured from a bully."

"I see."

The rest of the ball seemed to be going well. Queen Marianne saw how her son was finally looking happy after the heartbreak he got. She knew what it was like to lose her heart and have to attend a ball with a large amount of sappy romance references. At least Marius had support from his family after Helena broke his heart; when Roland broke hers, she didn't receive the support she needed from her father and Dawn. Well that was partially her problem: if she had simply told them that Roland had cheated on her on their wedding day, then maybe they would have taken her more seriously.

"I'M BACK!" a voice said.

Everyone's heads turned to the golden doors, where fourteen fairies were grouped together. While thirteen of them had large, bug-like wings, only one of them had brown butterfly wings. Marius looked like he was going to choke when he saw that one of the bug winged fairies was Helena; his parents had a similar reaction when they realized that the normal fairy was none other than Roland himself.

Indeed. Roland and his thirteen children had dared to step inside the castle despite their status as outlaws.

"What are you doing here, Roland?!" Queen Marianne demanded angrily as she and her husband flew in front of the crowd to confront the unwanted guests. "You aren't welcome!"

"Technically, I am still a member of the Fairy Kingdom court," Roland said in a cocky tone. He twirled one of his hair curls with two fingers. Just seeing him do his old tic made Marianne desire to throw up.

"After what you did to our son and our kingdom, how dare you even show the miserable faces of you and your progeny?" the Bog King bellowed, pointing his staff at Roland.

"What he did?" one of the bug-fairy hybrid children said. He looked like he was around twenty and had his father's short hair, except his were purple. His eyes were pitch black and sickly purple blood veins could be seen on his skin. He wore a purple leaf armor that was similar to the one his father wore. "It's more of a question of what _you_ did." He pointed an accusing finger at the royals. "Our kingdoms were happy in their separated statuses. Our differences didn't clash against one another; we just led our separate lives. The green nature of the Fairy Kingdom didn't have to tangle with the somber one of the Dark Forest. Traditions and the status quo were protect. But then you had to ruin the perfect world we were all living in with your…anti-traditional interspecies romance that convinced everyone to start mixing their clashing differences into one chaotic realm filled with hybrids!"

"Speak for yourself!" Griselda snapped. "You're a hybrid yourself!"

"Yeah!" Stuff said. "We're a lot more happier as one united kingdom with bigger opportunities than two kingdoms separated by a primrose border!"

"Plus, if Roland hadn't cheated on my sister on their wedding day, none of this would have happened!" Dawn joined in. "In other words, it's his fault if the two kingdoms are now united!"

There were agreements in the crowd as they listened the princess's psychology.

"Who says he cheated?" a voice asked. It was Helena's. "For all we know, it was her Majesty Marianne who claimed such a thing. There were no witnesses to prove that what she said was true."

"Yeah, right" Dawn said. "Do explain to me how my sister-who was extremely happy on that day, by the way- suddenly flies back home crying a river and calls of the wedding because she made up a story that Roland cheated on her."

"And how do you explain how our father was left alone at the altar?" one of Helena's other brothers said. "Even when he tried to explain himself through heartfelt actions, the Queen didn't want to listen."

"Enough of you insulting my queen!" the Bog King shouted. "Guards!"

The royal guards began charging towards the outlaws until something flew above them at incredible speed. Lysander couldn't see the figure grabbing his staff until the last minute. Next thing you knew, you saw a black slash and Roland was screaming, holding his hands over his bleeding right eye.

" **MY EYE! I CAN'T SEE!** " he wailed, screaming and crying like a little baby. Everyone watched as he rolled on the ground and clung to his eye, causing the stone floor to be stained with blood. Helena and a few of his other sons and daughters rushed to him.

"You narcissistic jerkass…" a voice growled.

Everyone gasped when they saw whom the assailant was as he clutched the Bog King's staff in one hand. Blood was dripping from the end of the weapon.

"MARIUS!" Lysander and Marianne gasped. But the prince ignored them.

"You've got a lot of dirty guts to show your disgraceful face in public," Marius said. Using his spare hand, he grabbed Roland by the collar and gave him a horrible death glare that terrified Roland, Helena, and a majority of the twelve other fairy-bugs. "But letting your spoiled brats insult my mother after all the things you did to her is not on my list of approval. And you tried forcing her to love you using a love potion! Exactly how does that make you innocent?"

Roland began to stammer something unintelligible, but Marius wouldn't let him finish.

"And then you've gone ahead and insulted an entire kingdom, with one half that blindly believed your lies just because they thought you were good-looking. Well, I hope you'll keep admiring yourself even with one eye."

He let go of Roland's collar and the latter fell on the stone floor.

"Now… **GET OUT OF THIS CASTLE!** "

His angry face was terrifying enough that Roland and his progeny flew out the golden door, afraid of what would happen if the Prince unleashed his wrath on them.

"Marius, what on earth…" Lysander began demanding to his son, only for his son to toss the staff at him.

"Leave me alone."

They all watched as Marius Bogfae flew out of the ballroom in a speed that even his parents couldn't keep up with.

"This is definetly like last time," Marianne groaned as she pinched her nose in frustration.

"Minus the blood," Dawn nodded.


	13. Kit and Junk

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 13: Kit and Junk

Marius kept cussing to himself as he flew towards the old Dark Forest.

The Dark Forest was still occupied after the union of the two kingdoms. Most of the goblins remained in their native land while others took their chances in the land full of light, butterflies, and flowers. Dark fairies mostly stayed in the comfortable shadows of the forest and occasionally got out in the light and many elves had moved to the Dark Forest when several coalmines were found underneath the roots of many trees.

Even though the Dark Forest was populated, there were several places that were dangerous, even for the goblins, and were declared forbidden by the Bog King. The most dangerous one was the abyss that originally held the Bog King's former castle.

And that is exactly were Marius went, cussing at Roland and his children for ruining his life and insulting his beloved mother. When he saw the abyss, he landed on the edge where his mother once stood when she believed her beloved to be dead and sat there, watching the abyss and feeling as if its endless darkness was feeding on his glum emotions.

"I seriously doubt you'd want to sit by the edge, pal."

Marius jumped on his feet. "Who goes there?"

"Relax, bro." Another voice stepped in. "It's just us above your head."

The prince looked above his head and saw two goblins sitting on a branch just a few feet on top of him. He knew they were pureblooded goblins because they lacked the characteristics that all the other hybrids in the kingdom had. Goblin elf hybrids had the physics of the elves (including the hair and ears) and the boggy, swampy skin of the goblins. Elf fairy hybrids, like Daylight, had the elf size, skin color, and four-fingered hands and the fairy wings and eyes. As for goblin fairy hybrids…well, it depended. Some had the goblin's odd physical features and the fairy wings while others looked like fairies with bog colored skin, three fingers, and no wings.

Marius was the rare exception, since his royal goblin heritage was the only one with wings and he was practically a clash between his father and mother's features: the bark-like exoskeleton, the horns, the pointed features, the claws, the habit of walking barefoot, and the dragonfly wings. Marius had gotten these from his father. Yet, his horns had Queen Marianne's brown hair color; his sharp eyes were hazel-colored; his facial features and built body had strong hints of fairy attractiveness; his exoskeleton occasionally shed into the shape of the plant-motif outfit that fairies wore; the pattern of his dragonfly wings had the same colors than the purple, butterfly ones of the Queen. Such a mixture made him stand out among the other goblin fairy hybrids in the kingdom, a perfect balance from the union of two different species, and the designated 'handsome guy' for most of the females.

Back to the two goblins he just met. They appeared of the same age but of two different types of goblins: the first one was a female with a fish-like appearance similar to Thang dressed in some sort of dirty dress, and a brown cap on top of her frizzy black hair. The second one looked like a male, larger and taller version of Stuff dressed in a ragged tunic and moss-colored tabard. Both of them were barefoot.

"You know, you really should be careful of where you go," the female said. She jumped off the branch and landed on her feet. The other goblin jumped off as well, but he landed harshly on his butt, making him groan as the female rolled her eyes before continuing to speak with Marius. "The Bog King doesn't want anybody to risk falling to their deaths and join the leftovers of his ruined castle. That's why it's off-limits, you know."

"If it's off-limits, then why are you here?" Marius asked.

"Depends," the male goblin said as he got up and rubbed dirt away from him. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Does it matter?"

"It kinda does when our parents work for the King," the female said, giving a sassy, mocking tone. "We could easily tip you off and you'd get in trouble for coming here!"

"Charming. But I wouldn't be the one getting into trouble since I'm the King's son." To that, he unfolded his wings, revealing them to the goblins as they panicked.

" _You're_ the crown prince?" the male one said in shock as he pointed a dirty finger at Marius.

"We are so sorry!" the female one said as she bowed nervously in front of Marius. "We didn't know! Please forgive us! We're complete idiots!"

"OK, but please stop all the bowing," Marius said in a disgusting tone. "It's rather nauseating…"

"Gee, you sound a lot like your dad…" the male one began.

"Shut up, Junk!" the female one snapped.

"Seriously?" Marius frowned. "His name is Junk?"

"You'll have to excuse my twin brother," the female one told Marius embarrassingly. "He's a complete idiot."

"Am not!" Junk protested.

"Are too!"

"You two are twins?" Marius was now more confused then ever.

"OK, let's start over," the female one groaned before taking a deep breath and speaking more calmly. "Hi, my name is Kit and this is my twin brother Junk. Our parents are goblins named Stuff and Thang and they are the Bog King's main lackeys. We mostly work in the kitchens at the Bogfae Palace, but during our free time, we like to sneak into the Dark Forest and have fun!"

"She likes to jump on mushroom caps and go vine surfing," Junk whispered to Marius.

"Shut up, Junk!  
 _No wonder they looked so much like Stuff and Thang!_ Marius thought. Kit and Junk were the children of the two dumb, yet loyal goblin minions of his father who began serving him during the days were the kingdoms were still divided.

"But how come I never saw you in the palace kitchens?" Marius asked. "I've spent a lot of my childhood sneaking in there to see what the cooks prepared or sneak away treats for me and my cousin Daylight."

"Maybe we had no current shifts during your visits?" Kit shrugged.

"Or we were probably doing the laundry," Junk suggested. Kit nodded in agreement.

"And what about your parents?" Marius continued. "I see them at least once a day and they never mentioned anything about having kids."

" _They're Stuff and Thang_ ," Kit rolled her eyes. "You think were stupid enough to not know that are parents are the two biggest buffoons in the kingdom?"

"Aren't all goblins except the monarchs complete idiots?" Junk asked dumbly. His sister gave him a sarcastic applause.

"Gee, well done Junk. You practically called yourself a complete idiot. Which you are."

Marius watched as he noticed how Kit and Junk were really like their dumb parents. Kit may look like a taller version of her father Thang, but she definetly had Stuff's tendency of mocking somebody's stupidity and using it against him or her. The way Stuff kept using Thang's stupidity in order to get away from trouble was similar to how Kit used her brother's stupidity to make a fool out of himself. Junk may look like Stuff, but he was downright stupid like Thang.

"Look, it was very nice meeting you, but I gotta go," Marius said, trying to leave the duo behind.

"Don't tell me that you of all people are going to the boring Elf Spring Dance!" Kit said in shock. "It's so petty!

"After what I did at the Spring Ball, I'm sure that I'll be spending the rest of tonight in my room," Marius said.

"What about frog-hunting? You like that?" Junk suggested. That got Marius' attention: he remembered the good days of how he and his father would go frog-hunting for sport and bring back the hunted preys back to the castle for the cooks to make a succulent roast out of them. Marius licked his lips at the happy memory.

"Absolutely," Marius said eagerly.

"My sis and I usually go frog-hunting in order to ditch the Spring Dance. Right, sis?"

"Totally," Kit grinned.

"Would the crown prince be interested in avoiding another accident and do something more fun than dancing and listening to 'romantic' music?"

Marius didn't hesitate. He seriously needed to avoid that ghastly event, and since Helena and her family dared to show up at the Ball, he could easily avoid her.

"Sure, why not?" Marius said. "When shall we meet?"

"How about at sundown by the Rocky Tower?" Kit said.


	14. Flyers and Impius

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 14: Flyers and Impius

When Marius flew back to the Bogfae Palace, none of the staff members or the courtspeople dared to speak to him, either because they thought he should be left alone or because the feared that he'd stab them in the eyes like he did with Roland.

"Your Majesty! We were so worried about you!" Thang said in relief when she saw Marius walking past the throneroom. The goblin's remark caught the attention of the Queen and King, who rushed towards their son.

"SCARE ME ONE MORE TIME LIKE THIS AND I SWEAR YOU WON'T BE LEAVING THIS CASTLE EVER AGAIN!" Marianne said agitatedly as she hugged her son fiercely.

"Mother…I can't breathe!" Marius yelped as he tried to gasp for air until the Fairy Queen let go of him.

"Your recent actions have been very irresponsible, Marius Bogfae," the Bog King berated his son. "Stabbing a person's eye in public! And with the royal staff to crown it all!"

"It was Roland!" Marius protested.

"Roland or not, it doesn't matter! Know the people are going to end up believing his children's lies about us raising a beast!"

"LYSANDER!" Marianne said in shock. But it was too late: the words had stung Marius.

"So that's how you all see me now?" he said, his voice breaking. "A beast? **THEN PUT ME OUT OF YOUR MISERY IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY!** " He then flew off, ignoring the calls of his mother as he flew up the staircases and hallways until he reached his chamber and stormed in, locking the door behind him. The prince threw himself on his bed, where he cried over his misfortunes. The girl he had a crush on broke his heart. His parents lied to him about his curse. Roland, Helena, and their family had dared to insult his mother in public. He would eventually die. His father practically called him a beast. All he ever wanted was to be happy and become a great ruler like his parents…

His parents. For some reason, he suddenly remembered some words that he heard his mother say when he was still a small baby:

 _Alone, he must follow the similar footsteps of his parents. With his own friends, he will thrive. With an act meant for his one and only true love, his heart will be cured._

As much as he now disliked romance and would have done anything to avoid it, Marius knew what it meant: only true love could cure his cursed heart. But the part of following footsteps similar to those of his parents caught his attention: didn't they both get their broken and their hatred for romance bringing them together ironically? Didn't his mother get her heart broken by Roland the same way Marius' heart got broken with Roland's daughter Helena? Didn't his father become a ruler with iron fists after his heartbreak the same way Marius became rough after Helena betrayed him?

It was clear that he was reliving his parents' lives, which meant that if he should find a cure for his curse, he should try to find someone who was **really** like him.

Marius went through the list: on his father's side, he became quite cruel and violent, hated romance, disdained Griselda's attempts to find him the perfect match, and now had two dumb goblin sidekicks. On his mother's side, he got his heart broken by someone related to Roland, hated Spring Balls, and cared for his cousin Daylight the same way Marianne cared for Dawn. On both sides, he was a royal with fighting skills who got his heart broken and thus hated romance.

But who on earth in the kingdom could be just like him? Marius pondered until he felt something in his armor. He put his hand in his armor and pulled out the purple flyer that Darcy Fae had given him.

"I must be going mad," the prince muttered to himself as he laid his body properly on the bed with a pillow on his back in order to be in a comfortable position to read.

The first thing he saw on the flyer's cover was a crest of two different shades of purple split in four different categories: the top left had the letters VH, the bottom left a five-pointed star within a circle, the top right a circle with arrows coming out of it, and the bottom right some sort of horned winged lizard.

 _Villains High, the elite institution for generations of villains and anti-heroes of all species, status, and abilities to expand their possibilities as they reach out for their evil destinies!_

"Quite an introduction," Marius remarked as he unfolded the flyer, revealing a series of pictures and information.

 _For almost two centuries, Villains High has served as the ultimate school for the children of villains and antiheroes to thrive academically and wickedly. Located in Villainapolis, the school's campus is greatly placed in a city where students can go and expand their villainous possibilities outside of Villains High, whether it's to work at or run an evil shop, do internships in cruel associations, or live in the charming community._

 _Students have been known for coming from diverse types of villains or antiheroes. Some are evil monarchs. Others are supervillains, cruel spirits and fairyfolk, dictators and communists, humanized animals, children of gods, sorcerers, etc. The list is infinite._

"Wow," Marius gasped. He then saw a picture of what appeared to be a dark stoned castle with architecture so different from the one of his home palace that he didn't know how to describe it. On the grounds where the castle was located were people walking about as if they were eager to attend another evil class. Marius also noticed how diverse the students there were. It made him wonder why he didn't see that much diversity in his kingdom just as it is diverse right now.

 _In Villains High, 28 evil classes are offered to the students. Classes include:_

 _Geography of Lairs_

 _Pirate Sailing_

 _Animal Abuse_

 _Evil Drama Class_

 _Devilish Literature_

 _Villainous Witchcraft_

 _Unfair Negotiation_

 _Malevolent Military 101_

 _Criminal Design_

 _Gymnastic_

 _Damsel Tormenting_

 _Potions Chemistry_

 _Magic Dealology_

 _Dark History of Evil Deities_

 _Poison Therapy_

 _Home Egyptonomics_

 _Siren Music_

 _Basic Arson_

 _Lustful Pervertology_

 _General Evil Monarchy_

 _Technevilology_

 _Darts and Crafts_

 _Spiritual Villainy_

 _Advanced Manipulation Therapy_

 _Wicked Bakery_

 _Cold Sorcery_

 _Basic Cannibalism 101_

 _Botanical Biochemistry_

 _Out of those classes, every student is required to take Geography of Lairs, Devilish Literature, Unfair Negotiation, Gymnastic, Potions Chemistry/Poison Therapy, Dark History of Evil Deities, Home Egyptonomics, and Technevilology. Aside from those 10 classes, each student is also assigned to attend 10 other classes that correspond to their villainous heritage. They may take 4 extra classes in the hopes of earning extra credit._

As he went through the rest of the flyer, Marius had to recognize that he found Villains High very fascinating. Just seeing the opportunities that it offered marveled him. And those pictures with the foreign city and landscapes! Plus, seeing the diverse students getting along so well reminded him of peace between his goblin, fairy, elf, or hybrid subjects.

Oh, how he yearned to go to that place now and take part of its wonders! Meeting other people with backgrounds similar to his! And maybe find someone who could cure his heart…

He also saw a shot of Darcy Fae in one of the pictures: she, along with a couple of other girls, were dressed in black outfits with the school's crest and cheering on for boys playing a sport. That must have been what she meant as 'jeerleading'. Marius kept looking a bit more at that picture in order to see the diverse kids until one of them caught his attention.

It was a girl who seemed to isolate herself from the crowd out of spite towards them. It was as if she loathed the friendly interaction between her peers and wanted no part of it. What really stood out to Marius about that girl was how stunningly beautiful she was. Her skin was lavender colored but appeared as if it were trying to fade into the blue sky. She had very long black hair with dark Prussian blue stripes that flowed in the wind; such long flowing hair really intrigued Marius as most of the females in his kingdom had short hair. Her ears were pointed and her nose refined. Her slender hourglass figure was accentuated by her cleavage-exposing shirt, blue belt, scale-designed mini shirt, sparkling leggings, and high-heeled boots. Behind her back were large teal colored bat wings that were folded down her back in order to look like a majestic cape. If it weren't for her snake motived outfit and accessories, she could have been some sort of darker, yet beautifuler version of Queen Marianne herself.

The most dazzling part of the creature was those dark eyes made of infinite shades of blue that seemed to gleam with maliciousness and cruelty. Just by looking at them made Marius feel enchanted by the lovely girl. He almost forgot that Helena broke his heart.

A knock was heard on the door. Quickly, he folded the flyer and tucked it back inside his armor. He got out of his bed, straightened up, and went to unlock the door, only to find his Uncle Sunny standing there with a wrapped bundle in his arms.

"Uncle Sunny? You're back from your errand with Pare?" Marius asked as he let the elf enter his room.

"It wasn't really an errand, to be honest," Sunny admitted. "I brought you something." Marius watched in confusion as Sunny put the bundle (why was it moving?) on the bed and began unfolding it. A few seconds later, the cutest baby imp was seen squealing and chirping with delight.

"HE'S SO CUTE!" marveled Marius. The imp heard him and hopped from the bed straight towards the prince, who grabbed him and ended up getting cute licks from the creature.

"The old Fufu just fathered a litter of baby imps," Sunny said as he chuckled at the sight of Marius cuddling with the baby imp. "Pare didn't know what to do with such an amount of newborns, so he and Fufu held a 'adopt-an-imp' stand. I thought you could at least use a pet for company…judging by the rough days you're having lately."

"Thank you, Uncle Sunny," Marius said as the imp calmed down in his arms. "Does he have a name?"

"He's called Impius. Glad you like him. Well, I'd better leave you two alone to get to know one another. From what I heard about the Spring Ball, you're probably not going to attend the Elf Spring Dance?"

"Nope. I'm going frog hunting with a few new friends. Did you know that Stuff and Thang have kids?"

"You mean Kit and Junk?" Sunny chuckled at the mention of the goblin twins. "I've occasionally run into them in the kitchens. You'd be surprised by how they behave so much like their parents!"

"How come I've never been told before that they lived in the palace?"

"They're the kids of _Stuff and Thang_." Before he went out the door, Sunny asked: "How do you know them?"

"Let's just say I'm going frog hunting with them tonight rather than attending the Spring Dance," Marius answered as he stroke Impius' little head.


	15. Frog Hunting

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 15: Frog Hunting

It was now a few minutes since sundown and the Bog King kept looking throughout the castle for Marius in the hopes of apologizing to the latter for his previous temper. But the goblin fairy hybrid was nowhere to be seen.

"Has anyone seen Marius?" he asked the other members of the royal family as they were gathering together before heading off to the Elf Spring Dance.

"Oh, he left a while ago," Sunny said.

"But why would he leave when we're all supposed to go to the Elf Spring Dance?" Dawn asked with a frown on her face at her husband's answer.

"He had a frog hunting appointment with his two new friends Kit and Junk."

"Stuff and Thang's kids?" Griselda asked in a surprised tone. "How the heck did these kitchen goblins manage to talk to him?"

"I don't know. All he said is that he just met the twins and they invited him to go frog hunting with them rather than attending the festivities."

"AND HE DIDN'T TELL US ABOUT IT?" the Bog King's voice rose, nearly making everyone except Marianne cringe in fear.

 _Meanwhile, in the Dark Forest_

Marius flew through the thorny bushes, trying to hide as possible as he could from the sunrays of the sunset, since light easily reflected on his wings. He then stopped by the time he reached the end of one thick bush. A wood frog stood out in the open, relaxing on a lily pad in the middle of a puddle of peat bog water. Marius watched the amphibian quietly as it rested peacefully.

 _OK, think this through, Marius,_ he thought. _How do you attack a wood frog without you becoming its dinner?_ He pondered until he noticed Kit standing on a nearby branch and pointed a finger upward. Marius looked up and saw a series of dangling vines. He looked back at Kit as she squeezed her hands together.

Understanding what she meant, Marius flew towards the vines and grabbed a few in order to weave a muzzle. Kit, in the meantime, made several lassos out of vines and took them with her as she hopped down from branch to branch in order to avoid waking the wood frog.

"Wait until I put the muzzle on it _,_ " he whispered.

"Got it!" she winked.

Marius then proceeded into flying towards the wood frog. Unfortunately, since his dragonfly-shaped wings also came with the common noise that dragonfly wings make, the wood frog woke up and tried throwing its tongue at Marius. The prince narrowly dodged it, landed right on top of the frog's head, and threw the muzzle over its mouth. He tried to hold on to the muzzle as the amphibian hopped and struggled to get rid of it. As Marius and the wood frog were busy doing a 'rodeo tango', Kit managed to throw a lasso and tighten it around the frog's body and front legs. She quickly threw one of her other lassos at Marius while she tied the other end of her first lasso on a nearby thick branch. The prince then tied up the amphibian legs to another branch, thus trapping the beast and unabling it to move.

"Final blow, Your Highness!" Kit called, and the last thing the wood frog saw was Marius' fist heading towards its skull.

 _An hour later_

Nighttime had fallen when the trio gathered at the roots of an old pine tree.

"I can't believe you guys caught more frogs than I have!" Junk grumbled as he began to set up a campfire. Behind him were stacked a bullfrog and a grey tree frog (no need to mention that they were all dead). Meanwhile, Marius and Kit's stack consisted of five wood frogs, two northern leopard frogs, and three spring peepers.

"It's called teamwork, Junk," Kit rolled her eyes. "If you had a bigger brain, then it would have told you that frog hunting isn't exactly a solo activity. So, who's gonna slice the frogs?" To answer her question, Marius threw one of the northern leopard frogs out in the open and began dissecting its stomach open using his bare clawed hands, much to the surprise of Kit and Junk.

"Wow. Who knew that the royal prince would willingly get his hands dirty?" Junk said in surprise.

"You really are like your father, Your Highness," Kit remarked in admiration as she pulled out the frog's meat with a knife and tossed it in a bucket of water. "Never afraid to take action of anything."

"If you say so," Marius said, thinking about his father's previous anger. He kept dissecting the next frogs while Kit threw their meat in buckets and Junk cut some nearby roots and leaves that he then added in the buckets before cooking them on the fire.

"Soup's on!" Junk said about forty-five minutes later. By then, Marius had been skinning the dead frogs in order for Kit to use their skins for sewing fabric. Hearing Junk announcing the meal to be ready made them put away their work and by the fire as Junk served the meal he cooked. "Roasted frog meat _fait maison_!"

Marius took a large bite from the roasted frog meat chunk he was given. It tasted crunchy, with a swamp water flavor giving his mouth odd, yet interestingly delicious tingles.

"This is actually very good," he told Junk. "have you ever cooked dishes at the palace?"

"Not really," the goblin boy said. "My sis and I mostly work in the kitchens by cleaning dishes, doing laundry, tending the poultry, and colleting the nutritious herbs, flowers, and plants. We've never actually cooked for your family."

"Shame. The chef would have been green with envy if he ate this." He and the twins laughed at the sarcastic joke. "If I had know that this frog hunting experience was going to be fun, I would have done this more often aside from during the Spring Dance."

"Tell me about it," Kit chuckled as she drank a bowl full of swamp water. "The people back there have no idea of what they're missing."

"EEP! EEP!" a voice squeaked. The trio looked and saw Impius, Marius' new pet imp, running down a hill and towards his master. The prince was surprised to see his pet hopping nervously on his lap.

"What is it, Impius?" he asked. To answer his question, the imp pointed up the hill where he came from, which most likely led to the place where the Elf Spring Dance was taking place. Marius looked at the hill, confused, until distant screams and breaking sounds reached his ears.

"Oh Gods!" he gasped, jumping on his feet.

"I could have sworn I heard screams, Your Highness," Kit said in a similar reaction.

"We have to go!" Marius grabbed Junk and Kit's hands while Impius hung on to his legs and the prince took flight effortlessly. "I think that the Spring Dance is under attack!"


	16. The Vortex To Another World

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 16: The Vortex To Another World

Panic was going on a rampage through the Spring Dance: Roland and his progeny were attacking. They weren't directly assaulting the subjects, however.

No, they were scaring them away while Roland was busy fighting Queen Marianne.

"Consider turning over your husband's throne and your kingdom to me, Buttercup!" he said as his sword and Marianne's clashed with one and another. A leaf-designed patch was now covering the eye that Marius had stabbed.

Marianne kicked him on the chest and sent him crashing to a table. "You cheated on me," she said angrily as she walked towards him with her sword in hand. "You tried to use a love potion in order to have me marry you, you tried to send our two kingdoms into war, you put a curse on my son, and you let your daughter Helena break his heart! And now you dare ask me to hand you the lives of my subjects in your _filthy_ hands?"

"Filthy hands?" Roland showed off his armored hands to her. "I don't see what you're talking about."

Meanwhile, the Bog King and a few of his large goblins were handling some of Roland's progeny. One of them was the purple haired bug-fairy hybrid that had accused the monarchs of turning the kingdom into chaos by uniting completely opposite species.

"Surrender, Bog King!" he said. "You can't win!"

"That's what you think," Lysander snarled as he and the hybrid fought against one another until the hybrid managed to yank the king's scepter off his hands and pinned him to the floor, threatening the king's throat with the tip of his blade.

"BUTT-LANDING!" a voice screamed in the air. The hybrid looked up and saw a tall, fat goblin landing butt first right on his face. The Bog King had managed to slide away from the hybrid's grip when he saw the goblin coming from the sky.

"That was disturbing," a familiar voice said. The Bog King then saw his son rushing to the scene along with some female goblin.

"Marius!" Lysander called.

"Father..." Marius rushed to hug his father once he saw the panic that was causing the subjects to run off. "What have I done? I've...become a monster."

"It's my fault, son," the Bog King said as he pulled away in order to look straight into his son's hazel eyes. "Your mother and I tried to protect you from your curse and...we failed to do so when you needed us most."

"I understand, Father," Marius said, giving a smile to his father.

"How touching," a voice cut in. The Bog King, Marius, and the other two goblins turned to see Helena flying right onto the stage. A smug look appeared in her green eyes while she held up a clenched fist in the air. "Looks like you'll suffer dearly from failing your own son!"

She thrust her clenched fist at them, which turned out to be holding what appeared to be a shard of glass. At first, nobody understood if she was serious or not until the shard hit the stage and a gray vortex appeared. It emitted twisted clouds that spun into a black pit. Winds hissing and thunder clapping were heard coming from the vortex. It caused such a powerful force that Marius began to get dragged towards it.

"MARIUS!" Queen Marianne and the Bog King exclaimed. They ran towards the vortex and grabbed their son by the arms just as he nearly entered the vortex's mouth.

"Help me!" Marius shouted desperately. Kit and Junk both rushed to aid the prince, hoping to pull him up more efficiently by grabbing him by the waist. Unfortunately, the vortex was so powerful that it eventually dragged them in. The poor twins fell in but managed to at least hold on to Marius' ankles, which only made things complicated. Marianne's hands ended up slipping, letting go off her son's left arm and him getting deeper into the vortex. Impius, desperate to save his master, grabbed the Bog King's abandoned staff and brought it closer to the vortex.

"Impius, you clever imp!" Marius said. He grabbed the scepter's handle and held on to it while the Bog King and the little Impius pulled the children and the scepter out of the vortex.

"I don't think so!" Helena shouted. In less than a blink, she kicked the Bog King on the chest.

"FATHER, NO!" Marius exclaimed when he saw his father letting go of his last arm and falling unconscious onto the stage right at Helena's feet. And since Impius wasn't strong enough, he also ended up getting dragged into the vortex along with the others just as it closed.

 _An hour later_

"Lysander! Oh, please, Lysander! Wake up!"

The Bog King woke up to the sound of his wife's voice. He moaned as he lifted himself off his back and saw that the Spring Dance was deserted, minus for the royal family, Thang and Stuff, a few guards, and one dark fairy.

"Lysander, they banished our son away from us..." Marianne sobbed as she and her husband gave one another a hug that only brought more sadness.

"The same thing happened to our children," Thang said miserably.

"Our babies..." Stuff sobbed. Her hands covered her mouth.

"We have to find them!" Lysander said as he got up. "There has to be a solution!"

"There might be one..." All eyes turned onto the dark fairy. She was as tall as Marianne and dressed in a grey leaf-and-thorn patterned dress. A dark headband made of Dark Forest branches held her grayish hair back. Her skin was pale blue. This dark fairy was none other than Lady Fae, the mother of Darcy Fae.

"Lady Fae, you and your fellow dark fairies are familiar with these vortex, right?" Lysander asked.

"Yes, Your Highness," Lady Fae nodded.

"Then use your magic and open up that vortex!" Griselda snapped. "Bring the kids back!"

"I can't!" Lady Fae told Griselda angrily. "We dark fairies use glass shards from our own wings to open trans-dimensional portals, but there are rules to that kind of magic: the first one is that a dark fairy can only go to _four_ specific realms using her own wing shards and the second is that for every shard you use, your wings must heal for two months before you can open another portal again."

"So in other words," Daylight said as she carefully picked up the shard that had caused all the trouble from the stage floor and examined it, "either the fairy whom this shard belongs to has to wait two months before she can lead us back to Marius or we find some other fairy who can go to the world Marius and the others got stuck into and see if she can send us there to get them?"

"Precisely." Lady Fae nodded.

"Well that's gonna be a problem," Griselda said. "We don't even know where they went."

 _Meanwhile_

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!** "

After going through spirals of twisting smokes and colors, the two goblins, the prince, and the imp fell through an opening and landed straight into a series of trees. A rather painful landing, since it included falling down several branches until landing on the dirty floor.

"Puah!" Kit spat out a few leaves out of her mouth.

"Ouch!" Junk yelped in pain as his butt landed on a thorn bush.

Marius was lucky: using his wings, he managed to prevent himself from falling closer to the ground and injuring himself. He even took the opportunity of catching Impius, who was still clinging onto the Bog King's staff.

"Is everyone alright?" Marius asked as he landed feet first on the ground.

"Speak for yourself!" Junk grunted as he and his sister got up. "You've got wings while my butt is covered in thorns!"

"Arguing isn't going to help," Kit scolded her twin brother as she proceeded to remove the thorns from his butt. "We don't where we are, we can't reopen the vortex, and we might be stuck here forever!"

Marius glanced at Impius: the poor imp was shaking in fright. The prince then saw his father's staff and gently took it away from his pet. Pain was banging on his chest as the moonlight shone on the staff's central yellow stone and reflected through the webbed threads.

He was separated from his family, his parents. They had failed to protect him from his curse and enemies and it was his entire fault. And he needed to fix it.

"Then we'd better get going," he said determinately. He put Impius down, allowing the latter to walk at will, and began walking up ahead of him with the twins following him. As they walked through the woods, they notice how different they were compared to those that were familiar to them in the Fae Realm: the trees looked tall, but not as gigantic. Speaking of gigantic, the young travelers also noticed that the grass barely touched their heels.

They stopped once they arrived at a very tall slope. Marius grabbed his friends and pet and flew them up the slope until they reached its curved top.

"Well this is something you don't see everyday," Kit commented when they saw what lay before them.

How could they describe it? It was like some sort of curved, gray surface going around the slope and into deeper road. Out of curiosity, Junk touched the surface with his hands.

"It feels like rock but its smooth and stiff...like some sort of silk," he said.

"What kind of people would make such a thing?" Kit asked when she also touched the unfamiliar surface.

Impius tried sniffing the surface and moving around in order to pick up some sort of scent. Suddenly, his ears perked when he heard a distant noise that seemed to get closer and closer.

"Eep!" Impius chirped as he hopped back into his master's arms and pointed at the direction where he heard the noises. The trio looked and saw lights approaching.

"This can't be good!" Marius shouted as the lights got brighter and brighter to the point where he and the twins had to put their arms in front of them in order to avoid getting blinded. A screeching noise was then heard and the lights got dimmer.

"AAH!" Junk screamed. He hugged his sister rather tightly once they saw what lay in front of them.

It looked like some sort of metal thing that sprung lights out of his eyeballs and moved on paws shaped like black circles. Marius frowned, for he had never seen such a thing.

Something opened from the thing's side like a door and a person came out. He looked like he could have been around their age, but he was blue all over: scale-like shirt with flame patterns at the sleeves' ends, trousers and belt, boots, and fire-shaped color. Not to mention that his hair was actually made of _live_ blue fire and his tail and eyes spoke lizard features.

"Are you people crazy?" the boy asked. When he spoke, fangs could be seen in his mouth. "I could have easily killed you unless you weren't standing in the middle of the road!"

"My apologies, we're...a bit lost," Marius said. He bit his lip grimly: they were lost, far from those they knew and love.

The blue boy noticed Marius' biting his lips and changed his attitude from frustrated to sympathetic. "You guys come from another world, don't you?" he asked.

"You know what it's like?" Marius asked.

"Yeah, it's hard to fit in among the locals when you aren't as accustomed as they are."

"Locals? Just where are we?" Kit asked.

"In Villainapolis," the boy said.

Marius' eyes popped open at the mention of the name 'Villainapolis'. Quickly, his hand went through his armor until he found what he was looking for and pulled out the Villains High flyer that Darcy Fae had given him.

"Your Highness, what is that?" Kit frowned as she pointed at the flyer.

"Something that Darcy Fae gave to me during the Spring Ball..." Marius said. He showed the flyer to the boy. "You wouldn't happen to know Darcy Fae..."

"The dark fairy who's the jeerleading captain at my school?" the boy smiled. He then pointed at the thing he came from. "Hop in. I'll take you there."


	17. Headmistress Jekyllyde And Enrollment

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 17: Headmistress Jekyllyde And Enrollment

The thing that the boy came from was apparently called a 'car' and could be controlled by whoever sat in front of its wheel. Plus, it came with passenger seats: three in the back, which is where Junk and Kit sat, and one next to the driver, where Marius sat while Impius was resting on his laps.

"So let me get this straight," the boy said as he drove the car down the road and into darker woods, "your parents' nemesis put a fatal curse on you and has a daughter who broke your heart, leading to one epic countdown to death, and for some reason she threw you inside a portal that led you to Villainapolis."

"You make it seem so random," Marius noted.

"I try my hardest." Safír shrugged. "So are you parents both villains or is one of them evil?"

"What does have to do with anything?" Kit asked confusingly as she watched the rows of trees flash past them as they drove further.

"Villains High is a school for kids born from direct villains or antiheroes. For the last part, it either means that your parent is a hero lacking heroic skills or he's a reformed villain or you were born from the union between a hero and a villain. I don't think Darcy would just give one of the school's flyers to anyone."

Marius thought about his family history before answering the boy: "Well, my dad's the Bog King..."

"The goblin king who tried to destroy love itself after one nasty heartbreak but changed his ways once he met the fairy princess?" The boy guessed.

"How did you know?" Junk asked.

"Darcy told a lot of stories of her home." He made a left turn and the car went into the mouth of a tunnel, which was illuminated by rows of rectangular boxes hanging on the walls and shining in a way that was less blinding then sunlight but still bright.

"What kind of light is this?" Kit's eyes filled curiously as she and the rest of the newcomers watched the passing lights flash past them like shooting stars. "I've never seen anything like it!"

"Oh, that's electricity." The boy grinned. "Its a sort of energy that the locals here use to bring light in a way that doesn't require the use of fire.

"This world is so much different than ours and we've only been here for like a few minutes," Marius sighed.

"I feel ya dude." The boy said in agreement. "I've spent ages in a coma, and when I woke and found myself here, I nearly got a stroke with everything I saw. Heck, I needed to read about ten different dictionaries and encyclopedias during my first week in Villainapolis. Ah, here it is."

The boy pulled the car into what appeared to be a large room at the end of the tunnel. From Marius' perspective, the room could have about the length and 1/4 of the height from his castle's ballroom (that was, according to his point of view). The room was filled with cars similar to the boy's, only in different styles, all lined up in perfect order.

"That's the parking space," the boy said as he brought his car into an open space right between two cars; the space was perfect enough for him to pull the car in. "Students and staff members can park their cars right here, under the school, whenever they aren't using them." After turning some sort of key right next to the wheel, the car stopped making noises. The boy opened the door and got out. "Follow me."

The group walked out and followed the boy through the room until they reached some sort of wooden red door with a metal doorknob. The boy pulled the handle and let them straight inside a smaller with two smaller doors. A button could be seen on the wall right next to the doors; that exact button the boy pushed, followed by a 'ding!' and the doors opening to some sort of platform made of shiny mahogany and metallic floor.

"That's an elevator," the boy said as he ushered them in. "Locals use them to go up and down building levels whenever they feel like it. Positively speaking, it's less tiring than stairs."

"I am _so_ gonna need a dictionary," Junk grumbled.

"Where exactly are we going?" Marius picked up Impius while the boy was busy pressing the 10th button out 18 buttons all lined up. The doors closed and the prince could feel the platform being lifted up above.

"Well...before I can take you to see Darcy, I must take you to see the school's headmistress in order to get visitor's permits for you," the boy said. He looked nervous at the mention of the headmistress.

"Visitor's permits?" the trio of newcomers said in unison.

"What? The school is private property and people outside of the property, a.k.a 'visitors', must get permission from the main person in charge, which is the headmistress. After all, if someone would like to come inside your house, they'd need your permission to get in, right?"

The boy had a point: after all, they were new and unfamiliar to this world. Who knew what could have happened to them if the 'locals' got the wrong idea of them?

After a minute or so, a ding was heard, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened, allowing the group to walk into a hallway made of seaweed colored stones that were carved rather smoothly. A black wooden door stood at the end of the hallway. The blue boy didn't hesitate to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" an ancient voice asked from behind it. Impius seemed rather frightened by it, so he jumped back into his master's arms.

"Safír Dragon and a few visitors who would like to receive their visitor's permits," the blue boy said out loud. Quicker than a blink, the door opened without the slightest creek, allowing the youngsters to enter a dark office illuminated by the dim lights of a black hanging light that seemed to be decorated with purple crystals. Several cabinets containing books, papers, vials, and other sorts of trinkets could be seen. Right in front of the youngsters and the imp stood a purple desk, carved and shaped like a crescent moon, and a woman occupied that desk. At first, you could only see the right side of her face since it was the most illuminated by the hanging light: you could see the face of a middle aged woman with peach skin, her black hair tied up in a neat bun, and polished glasses resting on her little nose. She wore some sort of black skirt and white shirt that looked neat and tidy.

"Headmistress Jekyllyde, these are the visitors," Safír Dragon presented Marius Bogfae and the others. "They would like to see Darcy Fae."

Jekyllyde got up from her desk and walked around it to have a better look at the newcomers. As she got closer, the left side of her body was more exposed by the light, and just seeing her was enough to make Junk scream like a four-year-old.

While Headmistress Jekyllyde's right side looked like the one of a fair and clean middle-aged woman, her left side looked like the one of a shriveled hag, with wrinkles over every inch of her face, messy gray hair that was eager to turn into ash, and her 'left-side clothing' being dirtier than the right side. Even the left sight of her glasses looked shattered.

"I know I look scary," she said as she gave a death glare at Junk. "I'm the daughter of the fusion between Jekyll and Hyde."

"You don't want to know the story...for now," Safír warned Marius.

"I'm pretty certain I don't want to know and don't need to know it," Marius said flatly.

"Arrogance in MY office?" Jekyllyde glared at Marius while the latter just stood there, giving her a 'Go ahead, I don't have all day' look. Kit and Safír gasped nervously at the confrontation until Jekyllyde laughed, surprising the children. "Great first impression! Are you certain you aren't coming to visit in order to visit the campus and perhaps enroll at Villains High?"

"As much as the school sounded great in the flyer," Marius said as he showed it to the headmistress, "we didn't come for tourism. We need to talk to Darcy Fae... _right now._ "

The headmistress shook her head in amusement, which looked rather weird with her face being split in half, but went towards the back wall of her office, where some sort of grey box with diverse holes and buttons was attached to the wall.

"That's the school's intercom," Safír explained to Marius and the others while the headmistress tapped on one of the buttons. "It helps her give VERY loud announcements to everyone in the school...especially when she wants to summon a student to her office."

"Darcy Fae, your presence is requested in my office...this instant!" Jekyllyde declared to the intercom.

"Can't she just open the window and scream outside in order to get someone's attention?" Kit asked.

"She did that once." Safír made a nervous face when he saw the headmistress leave the intercom. "I...sort of pulled her an April's Fool Day prank by replacing her tomato juice with one of my homemade spicy pepper gumbo, and let me tell you that this was _not_ a great day for me."

A sudden tapping was heard at a nearby window.

"Window's unlocked!" the headmistress groaned. The windows opened inward and in came Darcy Fae, dressed in some sort of dark purple sleeveless dress with a strange purple crest on it and odd shoes. Her arrival caused some nearby papers to fly in the air.

"Miss Fae! How many times have I told you the existence of my office's door?" Jekyllyde scolded the young fairy.

"Headmistress Jekyllyde, I was halfway across the campus practicing my jeerleading routine!" Darcy protested. "I move much faster through flight and..." Her eyes moved towards Marius, Kit, Junk, and Impius, leading her mouth to drop in shock.

"What's up?" Junk joked.

"Your Majesty? What on earth are you doing in Villainapolis...with those two kitchen stooges?" Darcy said, befuddled, as she pointed at Kit and Junk. Kit looked angry at the dark fairy's remark; luckily, Marius spoke up before she could.

"Roland and his progeny. Attack during the Spring Dance. Helena threw us in a portal that she opened with a dark fairy wing shard for some unknown reason," Marius quickly told Darcy. "Darcy, you've been going from here back to our world. Surely you can reopen a portal so that my friends and I can go back."

"I can open a portal back to the Fae Realm...but I can't do it instantly," Darcy said, her head dropping.

"What do you mean, you can't do it instantly?" Kit's eyes began to grow as big as tadpoles. "Laziness got the best of you?"

Darcy glared at Kit before going back to Marius. "An individual dark fairy can go to _four_ specific worlds with her wing shards. For instance, I can only go to our world, Villainapolis, and two other worlds. The problem is that every time I pull out a shard from one of my wings and use it as a portal to any of my four worlds, I have to wait two months until my wings are healed and I can reopen the portal again."

"So you can't send them back home until two months have passed?" Safír asked.

"At the last day of school, to be specific," Darcy confirmed to the blue boy. "During my studies at Villains High, I only use my shards to go back home for the holidays."

"But if you must wait two months after using one shard, then how did you manage to come back here?" Marius frowned.

"My mom can also open portals to Villainapolis. So while I opened portals to go back to the Fae Realm for holidays, she would use her shards to open a portal back to Villainapolis while my wings were healing."

"Dang it!" Kit slapped her brother in frustration, causing him to fall on the floor. "We have to wait two months before Darcy can take us back home! What are we supposed to do until then?"

"I don't suppose...we could briefly stay here at Villains High as students?" Marius suggested.

"SAY WHAT?" Kit and Junk suggested.

Jekyllyde looked like she was pondering until she made an agreeing face. She opened of her desk drawers and pulled out three weird tubes with needles at the end. Seeing even one of them frightened Marius.

"Uh...what are these?" he asked as he pointed a shaking finger at one of the needled tubes.

"Headmistress Jekyllyde uses syringes to extract blood from new students in order to determine their villainous heritage and what kind of classes they'll take," Darcy explained. "Have you read the flyer I gave you?"

"Yeah, but it never mentioned anything a-AAAAOUUUCH!" Marius yelped in pain when Jekyllyde appeared out of nowhere and poked Marius' collarbone with a syringe. Feeling the needle extract blood from him was rather painful for Marius. It reminded him of that time when he was ten and he accidently flew into the back of a hedgehog; his mother spent three hours trying to remove the needles from her son's body.

Junk and Kit had a similar reaction when Jekyllyde extracted blood from them. With a grin on her face, she brought the syringes to some sort of cylindrical display laying on her desk. She poured the syringes' contents one at a time into the cylindrical display; once one syringe was emptied, a small piece of flat paper appeared at the display's bottom.

"The headmistress uses this DNA analyzing machine to determine which classes you'll take based on your heritage," Safír explained.

"And it prints out your schedule!" Jekyllyde exclaimed happily as she handed out the printed schedules to Marius, Kit, and Junk. "On each paper, you will find your class schedules, including hours, the teachers, and locations. Books are provided by the teachers and supplies..." She tapped her fingers and three boxes appeared in front of the three new students, each containing notebooks and diverse equipment that the new students were unfamiliar with.

"...Are provided by me," Jekyllyde continued. "I highly recommend that you spend your first night learning everything from the dictionary in order to get familiar with the things you'll find in this world. Classes start at eight and end at three. Are there any questions?"

Where there any questions? It was hard to think: this strange woman was giving them shelter for two months even though they hardly knew one another.

"I do," Marius said. "Where do we sleep and what about my pet Impius?" The little imp tried to make a cute face, but the headmistress looked unamused.

"Students live in specific dormitories depending on the time they were accepted into Villains High. Those who got early admission get to live into the Malevia Village, where they get there own houses, those who got regular admission get their own rooms in the Wicked Dorm Hotel, and as for those who got tardy admissions...they must share an apartment that can hosts from two to four people in the Bad Dormitory. This where you will briefly reside." she said.

"I live there," Safír said with a smile. "It's not as bad as it sounds. Plus, the students residing there are very nice."

"As for Impius, there's a daily pet daycare at Villains High run by one of the students, Penny Cobblepot," Darcy joined in. "If you sign up, then she'll make sure that Impius is well provided for while your in class."

"Thank you again," Marius bowed gratefully. "We don't know what we'd do without your help."

"No worries," Jekyllyde said giddily. "Safír, lead them to the Bad Dormitory so that they may get a good night's sleep. Darcy, you may return to your jeerleading routine. As for you, Prince Marius Bogfae, I welcome you and your lackeys to Villains High."

And that was the end of the meeting before Marius and his friends grabbed their boxes and followed Safír out of the office.

Looks like classtime would soon begin.


	18. The Bad Dormitory

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 18: The Bad Dormitory

"You're headmistress is crazy," Junk told Safír as they walked outside the building they were recently in and into the campus ground. A green field made of flat grass stood in front of the school like a crescent moon. Flat pathways made of stone went around or through the field while 'lampposts' (as they were called) lighted the way for the group.

"That's the Lunar Field," Safír explained to them. "It separates the school from the dorms. Lots of students enjoy going out there for picnics or hangouts in-between breaks when it's nice out."

"It looks kinda...flat," Marius said as he briefly stopped to touch the field's grass. It felt nothin compared to the grass back in the Fae Realm. Back there, the grass was wild, yet graceful, and could proliferate freely. Here, it looked like it took part of a military haircut. Even Impius tried sniffing it, which resulted with the imp making a gagging face.

"I know it's gonna be tough," Safír said. "Believe me, almost every student who's new to this type of environment takes a long time to adjust."

"Still can't believe we have to endure this for two months," Kit groaned.

"Look on the positive side, Kit," Safír said in an encouraging tone. "Villains High isn't just about the studies. It's about the diverse, multi-culturist community that it provides for every student. Plus, since it's located in Villainapolis, a city full of opportunities, you can practically do anything there. Shopping, hanging out with friends, visit cultural places..."

The full moon glowed in the dark as they crossed the Lunar Field and began walking past a series of houses that formed a village. Each house had a certain architectural and garden design that made it stand out. Roads could be seen passing through blocks of houses and forming some sort of spiderweb system. Lampposts were lighting the dark streets of the now silent village.

"Malevia Village?" Marius guessed.

"Yep," Safír sighed. "Those who applied early or have parents with great financial accesses are granted with this charming malevolent place. Each house was designed based on the student who lives in it."

They walked past Malevia Village and onto a sidewalk that led through a grove of ironwood trees with branches that seemed to fade into the dark sky like twisted fingers. They then passed what appeared to be a very large and very tall tower made of thick black stones and a red tiled-pointed roof. Thorns, black roses, and poison ivy could be seen growing on the tower's walls and foundations. Lights could be seen in some of the windows, making the ominous tower look like a dark beehive.

"That's the Wicked Hotel," Safír pointed out, "reserved for students who've applied for regular decision. It's quite packed. Darcy Fae lives there."

The newcomers had a hard time picturing Darcy Fae flying around inside a hive-like tower packed with strangers daily. They did hope that the architects knew the existence of staircases.

Finally, they reached the end of the sidewalk, which was guarded by a metal gate. A sign was attached on the gate and greeted the group with the following words: " **BAD DORMITORY. NON-RESIDENTS, KEEP OUT!** "

"Well that's charming," Kit muttered as Safír simply pushed the gate open, causing creaking noises to be heard.

"Here we are," he said. "The Bad Dormitory for students with late applications."

Surprisingly, the Bad Dormitory didn't look as ominous as the Wicked Hotel or as strangely diverse as Malevia Village. No, it looked more like a rectangular, sedimentary stoned building with several other similar buildings lined up to form a perfect V-shape. Each building was five-stories high with thirteen windows on each floor. Only two large oak trees stood between the Bad Dormitory's main entrance as if nature was guarding the place like a sanctuary.

"This looks much friendlier," Marius said. Impius, who seemed to be agreeing with his master, began to scurry towards the main entrance, with the teenagers trailing behind him.

Safír pushed the glass doors open and they soon entered a large room with comfortable chairs, a table full of stacks of papers. Several doors could be seen within this circular room and the walls were covered with 'framed pictures', 'announcement papers,' or 'posters announcing the most wicked student of the week'.

Separating the group from the 'elevator' (Marius wondered how the heck this world was crazy) was a large, dark brown desk with a boy sitting behind it. Unlike Marius, the goblin twins, Impius, Safír, and Darcy, this boy looked very unusual: with his short brown hair reaching his shoulders, his fair skin, and mud brown eyes, he could have been like any normal fairy from the Fae Realm. But he didn't. He had no wings or pointed ears -matter of fact, his were covered with some sort of weird device- and he wore a strange red leather jacket with brown epaulettes over a lime-and-slime green shirt. His hands were covered with blue fingerless gloves, and judging by how they were resting underneath his round chin, it was clear that the boy was awfully tired.

"Randolph!" Safír called out. "How are ya, buddy?"

Randolph groaned as he lifted his head up to look at the group with an irritated glare designated at Safír.

"You bug me one more time with your 'buddy' quotes, then I'm gonna wreck you, dragon boy," Randolph told Safír in a sharp, yet tired tone.

"Yeah, whatever." Safír shrugged it off as if it was nothing but a casual joke. "Randolph, these are newbies. They'll be staying here for only two months, but they'll need dorms to live in. Happen to know any that might have a few spots available?"

Randolph released an even louder groan as he bent down and pulled out a thick binder full of papers. A loud thud was heard as he slammed it onto the counter, causing Impius to freak out and hide behind Marius' legs. "I hate my job," he muttered.

"You're not a student?" Kit frowned.

"I'm a sophomore at Villains High, but I also do part-time on-campus employment," Randolph answered in a rather dull tone as his fingers skimmed through the papers. "And out of _all_ the job opportunities, I had to take afternoon lobby secretary at the Bad Dormitory."

"They don't pay you well?" Marius asked.

"They do, but my job is just _so_ boring."

"You'd think they'd take better consideration of their hardworking students."

Randolph briefly glanced at Marius before giving him an approval nod and turning to Safír: "This guy rocks. Make sure he lives." His dull, yet meaningful comment somewhat disturbed Marius.

Randolph pulled out three sheets of paper. "I've found three available spots for the newbies. Fattie over there can share a dorm with Karl. The lady will share with Jane Hook..."

"I thought Jane's dorm was already full." Safír frowned.

"Nah. She has only two roommates, but one of them transferred to another school while the other left for an internship opportunity in uptown Villainapolis. And as for Rock' On Prince, he'll dorm with you."  
"SAY WHAT?" Marius nearly dropped the box of supplies he needed.

"Alright!" Safír gave a quite hard backslap on Marius that would have nearly injured his wings. "We'll be sharing the same dorm! How cool is that?"

"Speechless," Marius simply said.

 _Later_

After getting a thumb scan by Randolph in order to create their student ID and dropping of Kit and Junk to their new dormmates, who both welcomed them with open arms, Safír led Marius through a series of hallways until they reached a purple door with the white labeled number '666' on it. Point to make: not every door was labeled with a number.

"Room 666th?" Marius asked. "This can't be the 666th room in the Bad Dormitory."

"Nah, dormrooms at Villains High are distinguished with some sort of 'evil symbol'. In this case, we've got the devil's number." Safír unlocked the door with his key and led Marius inside. "Here we are, Marius. Your temporary home."

As Safír showed Marius around the place, the prince swallowed very hard in order to avoid crying. The place was small, and yet so cozy and homely. The small kitchen, the white bathroom, the living room composed of a small table, two chairs, a couch, and a 'television', and the violet colored walls...just seeing this made Marius miss his home and parents even more.

Safír opened a door leading to a small room with two beds, one on each side of the room, two desks and chairs, a closet, and a little nightstand, with a lamp on it, standing in between each bed. And right above that, dark curtains covering a window.

"This room was supposed to be for two people to share, but my to-be dormmates ended up not making it to Villains High at all," Safír said sadly. "I hope you and Impius like it: it's the only one in the dorm to have a window."

"Me and Impius?" Marius frowned while Impius gleefully hopped onto one of the beds. "What about you?"

"I sleep in the other bedroom. My dad had me sign up to have a single-person room for sanitary issues while I stayed here."

"Thank you again, Safír," Marius said gratefully. "My friends and I would have been lost without you."

"No problem, man," the blue dragon-boy said. "Do try to get some sleep. We're waking up at 6:30am tomorrow in order to be prepared for classtime."


	19. First Day

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 19: First Day

"Did you even SLEEP?"

Safír nearly shouted those words when he saw Marius the next morning right after their apartment's **very** loud alarm clock rung at 6:30am. The prince had dark marks underneath his eyes, evidence that he spent nearly the entire night reading from the dictionary and observing videos from the Iphone he had found in his package in order to learn what to expect from this realm. He had spent an entire hour arranging his supplies within his backpack and who knows how long it took him to memorize the school map, rules, Cruella-teria meal plan, after school activities, and everything else in Villainapolis. Long story short: he barely had at least two hours of sleep.

"I'll go ahead and make us some coffee to go before we go get breakfast and to class," Safír said. "You want to take a shower?"

"No thanks," Marius yawned. "Water can affect my wings. Besides, I shed my skin and clothes in order to clean up."

"I get your point." Safír nodded with understanding. "But do at least brush your teeth and use some cologne. You don't to get first smelly impressions."

Marius nodded and went to the bathroom. As he brushed his teeth, his eyes wandered onto the mirror, where his hazel eyes full of homesickness reflected back at him. He could imagine his parents fearing the loss of their son. _Damn you, Helena!_ Marius thought. _I'll have your head on my wall once I come back._

Once he was done brushing his teeth and only adding a tiny ounce of cologne (which he ended hating along with its strong alcoholic scent), Marius went to grab his backpack in his bedroom. When he got in, he found Impius placing five containers on the desk that Marius had used last night.

"Impius, what are you doing?" Marius frowned. The little imp squeaked in excitement as it grabbed one of the containers and handed it to Marius. Confused, the prince took the container, slightly opened it, and took a sniff from its brown, dirt content.

He nearly cried. "Dirt...from home. Impius, how did you...?"

The imp scurried off the desk towards a pile of skin located at the feet of Marius' bed, which turned out to be the bark skin that he had shed last night. It turned out that Marius had inadvertently gotten small pieces from the Fae Realm before he got sucked into the vortex.

He went through the other containers: Dark Forest oak bark, fragments of primrose petals, and Night Violet seeds.

The seeds stabbed him the most: he remembered flying over the Passage of Peace and through the mass field of Night Violets yesterday morning while he was grumbling about the Spring Ball taking place. He remembered playing as a young child in the field with his parents and listening to their tale on how the Bog King had given Marianne a Night Violet as a token of his blooming feelings for her. He remembered how every goblin in the Fae Realm believed the legend that the Night Violet would bloom and glow like a thousand stars when a goblin presented his destined soulmate with the sacred flower.

"Impius, come here," Marius said as he held out his arms towards the imp, who clearly got the message and went to give his master a hug. "You're such a lovable rascal. You don't mind staying put in here just for today? Hopefully I'll be able to get you a spot at the school's pet daycare."

Impius chirped something.

"You do realize that if I let you go out into the wilderness even just for today, I'm gonna have to fetch you myself if you get lost?" Marius arched his eyebrows.

Impius gave him puppy eyes to which Marius gave in.

"Fine!" Marius rolled his eyes. "But you'd better be here when I come back!"

 _Later_

They took a tramway to go from the Bad Dormitory, across the Lunar Field, to the school. They wanted to make it to the Main Building so that the new trio could get their lockers before going to breakfast and head straight to class, and the school's tramway was the quickest way to travel around the school in less than a minute or two.

Some students sitting or standing not too far from the group had curious glares at the newcomers, obviously wondering when the heck they had arrived, but it only took only one dark glare from Marius to give them a warning that they didn't like to be looked at.

Once the tramway stopped at the Main Building, the group got up and followed Safír as he lead them through the hallways full of purple lockers, dark stone walls, spiral staircases, pillars shaped like dragons, and students roaming about.

"So Kit's locker is # 104 in Hall 3, which leads right to the Cruella-teria," Safír said, "Junk's is ten lockers away from her locker's left side, and Marius' is right here, at locker #665." Safír pointed at a locker that stood two lockers away from a door labeled ' **UNFAIR NEGOTIATION CLASSROOM** '.

"Locker #665?" Karl gasped. Karl Pepikrankenitz, son of antihero named Kronk, was Junk's roommate, and he had been very welcoming to the new goblin, and since the two were familiar with kitchens and cooking, they instantly became friends. Karl had willingly joined Safír and the newcomers to the Main Building as a way to 'make them feel at home'. He even shared some of his homemade muffins to them when they went to catch the tramway. "Safír, Marius is gonna get toasted if he goes near that locker!"

"And why would I get toasted?" Marius asked as he managed to open his locker and began placing things in it. Karl grabbed Marius by the arm in order to get his attention.

"Dude, if you're stuck with this locker, that means you'll have this locker as your neighbor for the next seven to eight weeks!" Karl pointed one of his tanned fingers at locker #666, which looked perfectly normal from where they were standing.

"It looks normal," Kit said in a deadpan tone.

"It's Penna De Mort's locker!"

Now it was Safír's turn to freak out. "Karl, I thought locker #66.6 was De Mort's locker!"

"No, that's Dia Nathos' locker- not that it makes things better. This one's Penna's! Marius is going to get stuck with the biggest blackheart in the entire school until he leaves!"

"Are we referring the girl who 'accidently' spilled mamba serum on Darcy's wings in Potions Chemistry class?" Marius arched his eyebrows as he air-quoted the word 'accidently'.

"Darcy told you about it?" Safír said flatly.

"Just what I said. I saw her wings at the Spring Ball yesterday back home."

"What kind of sick person 'accidently' spills snake venom onto a fairy's wings?" Kit asked while imitating gestures similar to Marius'.

"The superior, blackhearted, sorcery kind of sick person," Karl said. "Take our advice, Marius. Penna can instantly make someone's life miserable if you dare to stand up against her. Just ignore her, don't talk to her, and don't try to be her equal."

Marius snorted. "Like I have time to go after some girl, which honestly isn't one of my priorities."

 _Around 8am_

"Ah, you must be Marius Bogfae. Welcome to General Evil Monarchy!"

Prince John had welcomed Marius once the latter stepped inside the white amphitheater classroom filled with around eight to ten students, who gave curious glances at Marius while he mentally told himself how ghastly Prince John looked with his baby blue royal cape, tacky green jumpsuit, furry red and brown armor and boots, lion belt, small golden crown, rings, and straw golden hair tilted to the side. In the eyes of the goblin prince, this is what his nightmares would look like if Roland were King.

"I see you came with your own royal staff and royal attire," Prince John said as he handed two textbooks to the goblin prince. Marius hadn't dared to leave his father's royal staff, his closest link to his parents, back in his dorm, so he kept it with him wherever he went. "That's good. You may go ahead and take a seat."

It took Marius less than three seconds to find an available spot in the third row right next to a dark coal skinned boy with icy blue eyes wearing a particular night-themed armor and cloak, and a blue three-horned helm that released his misty, starry blue hair.

"Your dad's the Bog King?" the boy quietly asked Marius, who stiffed at the mention of his father as he sat down on his chair.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I see people's memories and dreams whenever they sleep. It's the curse of being the son of Nightmare Moon, a megalomaniac lady who wants to plunge the world into eternal night."

"And I thought I had problems." Marius rolled his eyes.

"Such as you being stuck in this world for two months and your Stone Heart Curse?"

The mention of his curse nearly petrified Marius as his eyes looked at the boy in disbelief.

"You can relax, pal, I'm not a babbler. Your secret's safe with me." The boy gave the goblin prince a reassuring tap on the shoulder. "Besides, you won't have to worry about the curse for much longer because its cure is within Villains High."

 _At lunchtime_

"So the crazy guy said what?" Junk asked in confusion.

They were at the Cruella-teria, a big purple dining room with tables dispersed everywhere and a large, rectangular window revealing the Lunar Field and its greenness on this sunny Friday afternoon. Junk was enjoying his slices of peperoni pizza while they were sharing their stories about morning classes.

"Artemis Nightmare isn't crazy," Safír said once he took a sip of his root beer. "He's just got foreshadowing powers. But there's nothing to worry, Marius: Artemis isn't the type of person to babble away secrets. You tell him something personal and he keeps his mouth shut about it."

Marius silently stirred his spoon into his bean soup. Artemis' words still rung in his head: ' _It's cure is within Villains High._ ' If the guy seriously had foreshadowing powers, then could it be possible that Marius' curse would end here? Could his parents finally find satisfaction once they'd see their son free? Would Roland, Helena, and the rest of his enemies finally be defeated?

Karl noticed Marius' silence and chose to switch the topic: "So how did you guys like your morning classes?"

"Wicked Bakery was awesome!" Junk grinned as he began stuffing his mouth with strawberry yogurt. "The Candy Witch taught us how to make poison oak cookies that are super yummy once you dip them in a glass of milk. Dark History of Evil Deities and Home Egyptonomics, they were so-so."

"I'm not quite sure I get the difference between Wicked Bakery and Home Egyptonomics," Marius confessed.

"Wicked Bakery is based on anything that involves evil cooking while Home Egyptonomics involves all the home lifestyle from Ancient Egypt: slaves, masculine superiority, and pulling fresh organs out of dead bodies in order to prepare them for mummification." Karl made a gagging voice. "Evil stuff. Honestly, how can the Ancient Egyptians deal with that kind of stuff?"

"Hey, where's Kit?" Safír realized.

"My sis went to check on the all-girls extracurricular activities to see if there might be any available spots," Junk answered. "She managed to find one in the S.G.D..."

"The Support Group of the Devoted?" Karl took a bite from his sandwich. "My girlfriend Izzy took it last year. Apparently it's a support group for girls who feel like they need advice from one another on how to deal with the social issues that surround them daily."

"Why the heck did Izzy go there again?" Safír asked.

"Issues with her mom, Professor Yzma. And also because she needed an extracurricular activity credit as part of her school credits."

Meanwhile, Marius was scavenging through his backpack, looking for his schedule in order to figure out what classes he'd have next, only he didn't realize until now that he left his schedule in his locker.

"Darn it! I forgot my schedule in my locker!" He groaned as he got up. "I'm gonna go fetch it."

"OK! We'll see you outside the building when classes are over," Safír said.

Marius nodded and grabbed his backpack by the handle and flew out of the cafeteria at such a fast speed that a nearby student ended up with porridge on her head, much to her disgust. He flew through the hallways, up the stairs, and past the lockers at such a fast speed that he didn't realize until the last minute that he was on the verge of running into a passing student.

They both let out an 'OUCH!' as they tumbled onto the floor. Marius groaned as he struggled to sit up.

"What the Hell? Can't you watch where you're going?" a female voice demanded in front of him.

Marius grunted. "Well excuse me if one of us didn't notice the other flying by!"

"Just who do you think you are?" the voice scoffed.

"Hey! I can ask you the same..."

Marius couldn't finish his sentence once he saw who he was addressing to and the girl in front of him gave a similar reaction when she saw him. She was quite frozen as his hazel eyes stared into her dark eyes made of infinite shades of blue that seemed to gleam with maliciousness and cruelty.

"...thing," Marius barely finished.

He had just met the lovely girl from the flyer.


	20. Penna De Mort

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 20: Penna De Mort

Marius and the girl had completely lost track of time. Their eyes were so locked against one another, it seemed like everything that surrounded them didn't exist. For the prince, he was taken aback by how the girl was so much lovelier in real life than in the flyer: at this moment, she was wearing a sleeveless teal cowl neck top, thus revealing her bare lavender arms decorated with snake bracelets, black palazzo pants with purple serpentine designs at the ends, and black heels. Her hair was tied up in a half updo hairstyle, leaving long curls to flow down past her elbows, and her blue eyeshadow gave her eyes the dazzling glare of a hawk. Now that Marius had a closer look at the girl's bat wings, he saw how the teal colors seemed to move like aurora borealis in a winter night. As for the girl, she was speechless to see a humanoid boy with obvious regal stature and quite an interesting combination between fairy beauty and goblin ugliness that surprisingly made him...handsome.

"I am such an idiot." Marius was the first to speak. He got up and instantly offered his hand out to help the girl at first. While still stunned, she frowned at Marius' action as if she had never seen it before.

"Why on earth are you doing that?" she asked.

"Uh, because it's the polite thing to do," Marius answered. He frowned as well at the girl's question, for she made it sound like she had never been offered help to get up. The girl hesitated before finally taking his hand and letting him lift her up. The contact between the two skins felt like a clash of opposite sides in nature. Warmth against cold. Fire versus ice. Roughness versus smoothness.

"Thank you," the girl said flatly as she pulled her hand away from Marius' once she was done.

"No matter." Marius shrugged. "It's the least I can do to pay up for my lack of paying attention. Guess that will teach for flying too fast in the hallways."

"Didn't it occur to you that you might have bumped into someone?" The girl asked drily.

"Nope. Most people back off when they see me."

"Let me guess." The girl rubbed her chin in a thinking mode. "You're the son of some sort of mad scientist or mutant. Come to think about it, since _when_ do you study here at Villains High? I'm in my junior year- or so to speak- and I know every single person in this school. I don't recall seeing you around."

"Don't worry, I just arrived last night and I'm not planning on staying long," Marius reassured her. "Just bear two more months and you'll never have to see me ever again. It will be as if you never even knew me."

The girl arched her eyebrows in impressment: "You're already avoiding me despite barely meeting me? I'm very flattered. Looks like my reputation taught you to quickly avoid me. After all, I _am_ dangerous."

"I'm sorry. What reputation?" Marius asked. The girl's face dropped in disbelief at Marius's words.

"Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed. "How can you NOT know me? I'm Penna De Mort, daughter of Lord Voldemort, lady of the snakes, school bully and head student council!"

A brief sensation of _oh, crap_ went through Marius' spine. He just met Penna De Mort, the girl even Safír and Karl dreaded talking about. Penna De Mort, the witch who temporarily damaged Darcy Fae's wings. Penna De Mort, the girl from the flyer who turned out to be Marius' locker neighbor.

 _Calm down, Marius,_ he told himself. _No one's asking you to be friends with her for the next two months. Just deal with her and soon it will be as if you never even met her. You didn't come here to deepen relationships._

"As a matter of fact, I CAN not know you since I'm a newcomer in this world," Marius flatly told Penna. "I'm from the Fae Realm."

"Ugh. _Another_ dark fairy?" Penna's tongue clicked in disgust. "What on earth is Jekyllyde trying to do? Create an invasion of all-singing fairy jeerleaders?" The tone she used to refer to the dark fairies kind of stung Marius, for Penna made it seem like she had a thing against his home world and its residents.

"For your information, I did not ask to come to this place," he snapped at her, "I did not ask to be forced into being a student until the next portal opens, and I **most definetly** did not ask to have my locker next to yours!"

" **You're** my locker neighbor?" Penna pointed at the prince in disbelief.

"What's the matter?" Marius asked in a mocking tone. "Can't bear to have a fairy goblin hybrid as a neighbor for around eight weeks?"

De Mort's fists tightened, and Marius could have sworn he heard her knuckles crack. Coincidentally, the sound of her knuckles cracking sounded **precisely** like bones cracking once they were being burned into incense.

"Just stay out of my sight during your ghastly stay at Villains High unless you want to find vipers in your locker!" she hissed.

"That's fine by me! I had zero intention of being friends anyway, even if hell freezes over!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The sprung their wings open and flew off in their separate ways: Marius towards his locker and Penna somewhere in school. Of course, neither Marius nor Penna heard the other insulting the other.

"Bug Fly," Penna muttered.

"Viper Eyes," Marius grumbled.


	21. Rocky Road

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 21: Rocky Road

"So Impius will have well-provided care in the Villains High pet daycare while I'm out?" Marius asked as he filled out the papers that Penny Cobblepot gave to him when he came to the school's pet daycare once classes were over. He had summoned Impius in order to present him to Penny while he signed the contract.

"Of course," Penny said as her freckled finger tickled Impius' belly, making the imp squeak with laughter. "Believe me, I get a lot of people bringing in diverse pets that go from a spider to a dragon." A loud roar was heard from one of the back rooms in the daycare, nearly causing Marius to make a mistake while signing. Penny quickly went to the room where the noise came from. While they were waiting for her to return, Impius noticed his master giving out a very grim face. The imp walked towards his master and tapped him on the head as if he were asking 'What's wrong?'

Marius groaned: "Impius, I am doomed to spend two months in the same place as the girl I now hate more than anything in the entire universe"

Impius chirped something, which really surprised the prince; he didn't expect his pet to ask such a thing.

"Hey, I still hate Helena," he answered, "but Viper Eyes...UGH!" Even though his afternoon classes went smoothly, his mind was still sour from the thought of his encounter with Penna De Mort. If he had known when he saw her in the flyer back in Fae Realm that she was the most prideful and disagreeable person he'd ever meet in his entire life, then he would have locked himself in his room and never come out even if Roland and his stupid children came to attack at the Spring Dance.

Impius chirped something else, only this time, Marius was disgusted. "WHAT THE HELL? Impius, you realize that this is by far the most idiotic thing you've ever said so far?" Marius exclaimed in disbelief. "Why in Oberon's name would I be attracted to her? I don't do romance, remember? I mean, she's the most prideful, disagreeable, selfish, egoistic brat I've ever met! What's so attractive about her?" Impius gave him a look. "You think I prefer her over Helena? Why you...You know what? I don't want to continue!"

"Is everything alright?" Penny came from the back.

"Nothing." Marius finished filling the last paper and handed the contract to Penny. "Thank you for letting my imp have a spot in the daycare. I'll pick him up at sundown."

"Of course. Animals are my specialty," Penny chuckled.

Marius grabbed his bag, gave Impius a quick goodbye, and left the daycare. It was quite sunny outside, with only a few clouds in the sky. Students were moving around, either going back to their dorms to work on their homework, or hang out in the outdoors with their friends, or even go in town at Villainapolis. Of course, Marius preferred the idea of going back to the Bad Dormitory in order to complete his homework, but before he could even fly away, Safír came in along with Kit and Junk, thus preventing him from leaving.

"Your Highness, where are you going?" Kit asked. "Safír was just going to take us all to the Villainapolis Shopping Mall."

"The mall?" Marius frowned.

"Yeah, you know, it's like a giant market, only it's in a building full of different stores..."

"Not going," Marius said instantly in a tone that was similar to the one he had used when his cousin Daylight had tried begging him to come with her at the Spring Dance...yesterday...before he stabbed Roland in the eye.

"C'mon, Marius!" Safír started pulling Marius by the arm. "It's going to be a fun experience for you three! As far as I've been told, you don't find malls back in your hometown, right?"

"Like I care," Marius said as he forced Safír's hand off him. "I'm stuck here in this world because I can't go back home yet until two months from now, not for shopping! And I got homework to do for Monday, which is far more important than going on a trip to get useless things that we might probably not use back home! So don't even think about dragging me there!"

 _An hour later_

They had dragged him. They had forced him onto the tramway, telling him that he had all weekend to do his homework so enjoy Villainapolis while you're here, and now they had split up once they arrived at the VSM (Villainapolis Shopping Mall) on 666th Street and Wicked, agreeing to meet up at 5pm at the fountain at the mall's Core Hall.

Marius didn't budge: while Junk and Kit split up in order to explore the mall, with Kit following Safír, Marius just sat at one of the benches installed underneath one of the indoor palm trees at the Core Hall, his arms and legs crossed, his shoulders slumped, and a grim look on his face that scared away passerbys. _It's official_ , he told himself. _Next time Junk uses goblin piss on me, I'm wacking him on the face with my staff!_

He kept sitting there for the next ten minutes until he heard a familiar voice he had wished to never encounter again: "I thought we agreed to stay away from one another." Marius turned to see Penna De Mort standing a few inches away from him and carrying shopping bags in her hands. Her mouth was grimacing as she spoke.

"Great," Marius groaned. "You are now the second reason why I don't want to ever put my feet in here, Viper Eyes." Penna De Mort gave a small frown.

"Viper Eyes? Quite a touching nickname you gave me...especially when you made it clear that you don't want to be friends, Bug Fly," she snarked, trying to push his buttons.

"Why thank you," Marius snarked back, much to her surprise. "I'm sure you haven't noticed, but for me, 'Bug Fly' is an actual compliment."

"Is that so? Because of your scaly-backed cockroach appearance?"

Marius briefly froze and gave a dubious look at Penna before bursting into laughter, nearly getting attention from passerbys and causing Penna to look confused. "That's _exactly_ what my mother called my father the first time they met!" he chuckled. "Barely ten seconds before she punched him in the face and told him she'd have his head on a stick!"

"Uh...that's...romantic?" Penna frowned. She shook her head off and tried to change the subject. "Why the hell are you here? And why on earth do you stink with goblin piss?"

Marius calmed down and went back to his previous state when Penna asked him what the hell he was doing here. "I got dragged to this ugly place thanks to the threat of using goblin piss as perfume..."

"Which is apparently on you right now." Penna smirked. "Quite fitting, since you're half goblin..."

"Fun fact: I also shed my skin. I could easily shed the parts of my skin with the piss on it and next thing you know, you'll be leaving this mall with a goblin piss reeking skin coat." His nasty joke made Penna grimace as she waved her hand, causing the stench to disappear from his skin.

"Happy?" she grumbled. Marius gave her a smug grin as he got up and bowed in front of her.

"Certainly, milady."

Penna blushed in embarrassment, giving her lavender cheeks a deep blush that Marius mentally noted as somewhat cute. "You're really enjoying tormenting me right now, aren't you?" she asked.

"Well let's see," Marius pretended to ponder. "You're so far the most annoying person I ever met in this place so far, and quite honestly, seeing you in your current embarrassed state is a new pass time for me."

Penna looked confused. "I can't even tell right now if you're mocking, flattering, or doing stupid attempts to flirt with me."

"Hum, I'd say 70% mocking you, 29.5% flattering, and 0.5% for the flirting. Frankly, you shouldn't have to worry about the flirting part: the last time I crushed on a girl, she turned my heart to stone." Marius grimed at the memory of Helena breaking his heart and condemning him to a fatal curse.

"Love stinks, doesn't it?" Marius noticed the slight change in Penna's voice and a strange look that seemed much...softer than the venomous one she had given him so far. Before any of them could respond, tacky music was heard and some black-haired man pulling an ice cream cart dropped by.

"Get your ice cream! All with a good price!" He then spotted Marius and Penna. "Such a cute couple you two make. Here, have some free rocky road. They're free for couples on Fridays!" He instantly pulled out two cups full of the brown ice cream and handed it to Marius and Penna, both of them baffled by the man's insinuation that the two of them were dating. Marius's glare darkened.

"Excuse me for a moment," he said as he handed his cup to a still baffled Penna and cracked his knuckles. Thirty seconds later, the VSP's spa & lounge found an ice cream cart, with its driver locked up in the cart's cold compartment, crashing through the window and into an occupied mud bath as if it had been tossed like a Frisbee.

"IS THAT ROCKY ENOUGH FOR YOU?" Marius shouted at the ice cream vendor while rubbing off his hands. Penna still stood there baffled and holding the two rocky road ice cream cups in her hands.

"You are officially creeping me out...in an oddly fascinating way," she told Marius.

"Welcome to my world," Marius muttered as he walked away from the Core Hall and into the mall's exit door. "If you see anyone called Kit, Junk, or Safír, tell them that I'll have their heads on my wall."

She just stood there, still baffled by the scenario that she witnessed, until one of her lackeys and sole friends, Jessie Joker, ran into her.

"You OK, Penna? You look like you got stepped over by an elephant that just ran away from the circus," Jessie asked. The only action Penna did was to hand Jessie one of the ice cream cups in a zombie-like manner.

"Jess...I think I...just met a guy."


	22. We Don't Do Love Potions

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 22: We Don't Do Love Potions

Well it was official. His first Monday at Villains High was bound to be ruined.

Ever since his last trip at the VSP, Marius swore himself to never get involved in any sort of activity unrelated to academics until he got back home. Usually, back in the Fae Realm, he would have preferred to spend his time outside, spar with Daylight, or even visit subjects to see how they were doing. But now, he didn't leave his apartment dorm at all, even when Safír told him that staying indoors would be unhealthy. All Marius did during the weekend was his homework, read the school's dumb gossip paper, the UNHOLY GAZETTE, and miss his home terribly.

The only good part that occurred during the weekend was a little surprise staged by Safír and Impius: using the natural remnants that the Imp found on the prince's shed skin, Safír was able to convince Florence Poison Isley and Vergil Vanderfleet, two students who were experts in the field of biochemistry and botany (especially for Villains High's Botanical Biochemistry class), to use their skills to create a miniature replica of the Fae Realm using the remnants. So when it was past dinnertime on Sunday, Marius was surprised when he saw Safír open the door and letting in Vergil and Florence as they dragged a wagon carrying a rectangular pot full of Fae Realm dirt, two bonsai oak trees, and several primroses and Night Violets. He nearly cried when the familiar scent of home reached his nose. Now, he had a reminder of his world sitting not too far from the window and bringing him a better mood in his soul.

That made the weekend better for him.

Back to today: he felt his day was about to go wrong when he learned that his first class was a two hour class of Potions Chemistry, and worst, that the only seat available was next to the one person he wished to have never met in this school.

The reaction was mutual. As soon as Penna De Mort saw Marius step inside the classroom, she facepalmed herself and gave a face that said: ' _For the love of God, why you of all the people?'_

"Prince Marius Bogfae, I'm glad you could join us today on your first day in Potions Chemistry class," Professor Yzma said as she handed him the required textbook of formulas needed in this class. "Please take a seat next to Miss De Mort." Marius noticed that Yzma looked rather nervous at the part of mentioning Penna, who sent glares full of daggers at her. Obviously, this girl had a reputation that was enough to scare the teachers.

"Out of all the bad luck I have in my life, why do I have to spend this class with _you_?" she asked coldly once Marius sat down next to her, making sure he was at least thirteen inches away from her.

"I never asked to see your face again, if that's what you're wondering, Viper Eyes," Marius said in a similar cold tone. "And I never asked to learn potion crafting. Matter of fact, I'm not a big fan of magic."

Penna stared at him in angry shock. " _How dare you_? Allow me to remind you that I have magic in my veins! It's part of my life!"

"Oh? Well allow me to remind you that magic got me stuck here in the first place! If you think about it, if it weren't for magic, we wouldn't have to deal with one another!"

" _Why you..._ "

"Alright, class!" Professor Yzma clapped her hands to get the attention of every student. "We'll be learning how to make love potions today." A majority of the class groaned while barely a few made comments of how they could use a love potion to finally get the attention of someone they were crushing on. Marius, however, looked like he was going to throw up.

"Why a love potion out of all the horrors in my life?" he groaned.

"Let me guess: you hate love potions?" Penna didn't sound so cold anymore. As a matter of fact, she seemed equally disgusted.

"Open your books to page 73 in order to familiarize yourself with the formula while I go fetch the ingredients," Professor Yzma demanded before heading towards the ingredient storage room of her classroom. The students began opening their books and reading the page.

"We have this fairy back in my home that is the sole one capable of creating a love potion," Marius told Penna. "Everytime she's produced one, people go nuts over it."

"So why does she let others use it then?" Penna frowned.

"Apparently to teach everyone how 'true love is more valuable than a mere potion'." Marius made disgusted air quotes. "Love potions have messed up my parents. For my father, he tried using it on a woman he had a crush on but it failed because she loved someone else. He went as far as to imprison the love potion-crafting fairy, destroy the sole ingredient she needed to create her potion, and forbade love in the kingdom. As for my mother...her ex-fiancé tried to use it on her in order to become king. And don't get me started on the imp who just loved to spread the love potion on others for the heck of it! Love potion or not, love overall is downright useless from my perspective."

"No need to mention it." Marius noticed an oddly different tone in Penna's voice, and when he turned to look at her, she looked unusually tragic.

"Did I say something wrong?" Marius was worried for some reason that he had offended Penna.

"Not at all," Penna said grimly. "I dislike the idea of love or love potions of the sort. Given my background, it should make sense."

"I don't know much of your background." By now, Professor Yzma had come back with the ingredients and began distributing them to the pairs of students, Marius and Penna being among the first.

"My father Voldemort was born through his mother's use of a love potion on his father," Penna explained to Marius. "Since he wasn't the product of true love, he was incapable to love anyone or anything."

"Not even you?" Marius could now see that Penna was struggling to avoid crying.

"Not even me. I just ended up like him: the result of a deal between him and a demoness that was only to gain more power and not to love. He even ruined my chances of finding romance. The main reason that I am what I am is because my heart was forcefully stoned so that I can't feel any love at all, **especially** true love. Even though I want it, I can't have it."

Now she really looked like she was about to cry. Marius felt dreadful pity for her: she had worse than his own Stone Heart Curse. He didn't know what he should say to her. Comforting was the first idea that occurred in his head, but he shook it off.

"Is everything alright here?" Professor Yzma arched an eyebrow when she noticed that Penna and Marius had hardly started preparing their love potion. They'd only taken out mandrake roots so far. Thinking quickly, Marius came up with an excuse.

"I'm afraid Penna might be allergic to mandrake roots," he lied before giving a quick whisper to Professor Yzma. "And I highly doubt that she has the stone heart to make a love potion." Penna was pinching her eyes in order to forcefully prevent her eyes from watering and keeping her mouth shut from sobbing.

"Oh dear," the teacher said. "Prince Marius, do take her to the infirmary. Just in case the allergy does get worse."

"Of course." He and Penna got up and he escorted the latter out the door, ignoring the odd looks the other students were giving them. Once they left the classroom and went inside the staircase that led downwards, Penna stopped pinching herself. Marius could feel heat being emitted out of her body as she used magic to dry off her tears.

"Can't you just wipe them off with you hand?" Marius frowned. "Why do you need magic to do something so simple?"

Penna pulled herself together, ceasing the heat around her. "The last time I tried to spend _two days_ without magic just to try to be... _good_ ," She shuddered while mentioning the word 'good', "my body started to bleed endlessly. Plus, I went nuts mentally. It went on until I used magic again."

"Ouch," Marius commented. He didn't realize until the last minute that he and Penna were unusually closer physically. It only took a quick sniff in the air to smell an odd scent of snakeskin and violets to realize that and give space between the two of them.

"So how did you know I was allergic to mandrake roots?" Penna asked Marius as they went down the stairs.

"Wait...you _are_ allergic to mandrake roots? But I was just making up a story to convince Professor Yzma so that she wouldn't...well...see you crying about the story of your life."

Penna stiffened in her steps. "What makes you think that..." She got cut off when she realized she missed a step and was about to fall on her face until Marius quickly caught her hand and pulled her back up. The old fire versus ice contact came back once more when her wings just barely touched his stomach, sending it undesired butterflies, and her hair accidently touched the tip of Marius' nose, causing him to take an inaudible sniff at her particular scent. Great Oberon, what was the matter with him today?

"You seriously need to stop falling everytime you're near me," Marius said as he let go of Penna once she got back on her feet. "This is like, what, the second time?"

"I'll keep that in mind," Penna tried to brush off the topic as they continued walking down until they reached the desired floor. "Why do you always have to act like an annoying gentleman?"

"Oh, so now you consider me a gentleman? My, my, somebody's got a soft spot!" Marius snickered. Penna's lavender skin began to blush in embarrassment.

" _I am not soft!_ " she nearly shouted. "I'm a heartless beast, for your information!"

"Whatever." Marius opened the door and let her go out first.

" _And will you stop acting nice to me?_ " she hissed at him. This question struck Marius.

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked her in a serious tone. "Because you just hate goodness or because you don't feel like just for once, somebody might bother to be nice to you despite a poor first impression and your so tragic past life?"

Penna backed a few steps away from Marius until she found herself glued to the wall. She stared at the hazel eyes that made her uncomfortable with their serious look.

"You know, consider yourself lucky that I come from a world where your father's name doesn't ring a bell," he proceeded to snap at her. "I don't give a damn if you're the daughter of a so-called Dark Lord that everyone is so terrified about. You might have magical powers and a nasty personality, and no matter how thick your snakeskin is, I can tell you're rather weak mentally and emotionally. So, if you please, your _Ladyship_..." For the first time, he sounded like his father whenever the Bog King got angry with his minions, "quit it with your useless superiority and sass!" He then headed back to the stairs he just came from. "Enjoy tormenting the nurse for all I care!"

Penna watched him storm off, leaving her alone in the hall. Usually, she would have shrugged it off or gone mad with fury should another student or teacher at Villains High treat her like this, but for some reason, the goblin fairy hybrid left her so stunned and...partially frightened. She never got anyone to raise his voice at her and make her cringe ever since...her father before she killed him.

"Gah!" Penna yelped when she felt some sort of foreign pain hit her on the chest. She looked down to see a dark stain enlarging itself on her teal-colored shirt. Now more frightened than ever, she tried to put a finger underneath her shirt right at the spot where the stain grew and inadvertently made the pain worsen and the stain on her shirt increase. Her blue eyes widened with shocked horror when she realized that the finger had her black blood on it. And the blood came from the part of her chest concealing her stone heart.

"Bug Fly, what have you done to me?" she whimpered as she began to crumble on the floor.


	23. A Bleeding Heart Made Of Stone

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 23: A Bleeding Heart Made Of Stone

"So, you're not going to tell me where the cure is?" Marius asked flatly.

"Pretty much," Artemis Nightmare shrugged.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

He had gone to Malevia Village to consult Artemis Nightmare, the infamous son of Nightmare Moon, on what he had told him back in General Evil Monarchy class on Marius' first day at Villains High, and the humanoid alicorn had refused to give any direct answers. All he did was let an infuriated Marius Bogfae break one of his vases in his meditation room. For someone who had a big meditation room with night blue colors everywhere, crescent and clock ornaments hanging from the ceiling in a way that made it look like constellations if you were to look at the ceiling by laying your back on the floor, a water pond full of lily pads at the rooms center, twelve Chinese vases (with one of them being destroyed by Marius), and moonstone incense filling the air, Artemis was doing a rather good job at being serene with Marius' temper.

"I've been here for two weeks and a half now!" Marius shouted. "I don't know what's going on in my kingdom, my parents could be in trouble, I still have to wait six weeks until Darcy Fae can open a portal, and for some reason you said there was a cure for my Stone Heart Curse! And you won't even tell me what it is!" He stopped himself when he heard something that sounded like someone drinking, and to his disbelief, he saw that Artemis was drinking hot tea while sitting in a lotus position. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?"

"I am," Artemis said calmly as he put aside his now empty cup of tea. "And so far I've concluded that you are hopelessly stubborn."

" _Excuse me?_ "

"Don't you remember what Titania and Oberon said about you and your curse?"

Marius stiffened. Artemis knew the prediction of the fairy deities? He was about to ask until Artemis said the words himself.

" _Alone, he must follow the similar footsteps of his parents_ ," Artemis recited. " _With his own friends, he will thrive. With an act meant for his one and only true love, his heart will be cured_."

"So...you aren't as crazy as some claimed," Marius said quietly.

"Yes, the same way I can tell that you are not good at saving yourself." Artemis got up and walked towards his pond, where he dipped his teacup and brought it back up once it was full. With a small wave of his hand, he turned the pond water into hot tea. "You did a great job at following your parents' footsteps: getting your heartbroken by the daughter of Roland because you thought that her swordskills and beauty would make the relationship between the two of you similar to the one of your parents, with Marianne being the beauty and the Bog King being the beast. You isolated yourself from others, thus making you lonely, and you refused to get involved with romance. And now you're expecting me to just tell you the cure you need the same way your father demanded the love potion's antidote from the Sugar Plum Fairy just like that? Very smooth."

Marius dropped on his knees in front of the pond, watching his guilty reflection stare back at him. Artemis was right. Marius wasn't usually selfish and this was really below him or anything that his parents had taught him. Artemis went to sit down next to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"The cure isn't a trophy like the love potion or a princess' hand in marriage," Artemis told the prince wisely. "You can only obtain the cure of the Stone Heart Curse if you selflessly and truly open yourself to true love...and others."

"That's impossible," Marius said. "I've been in this world for some time now and even if I've gotten...some respect from my classmates and got...comfortable with Villainapolis, Villains High, and the technology...I'm still seen as a beast. And they're right. All I've done since I came here was reject others, think only about going back home, and refuse to interact with society. I'm putting myself and my parents in shame."

"Excellent start. I can feel your inner guilt starting to help you out," Artemis chuckled before taking a sip of tea. "I'll just give you one indirect hint and then I want you out of my house. You thought you were to be the Bog King in whatever romantic relationship you hoped to enter. But you're not. In this case, you are the heartbroken princess who falls for the beast. Marianne and the Bog King fell for one another despite their species and one being uglier than the other from others' point of view. You have the inner beauty, but your cure needs to find its counterpart, the inner beast."

Marius silently nodded. The boys got up, with Artemis preparing to lead Marius out of his house until a loud banging was heard coming from the front door.

"Apparently I had a 'Please Ring Doorbell' attached above my doorbell for nothing," Artemis grumbled. Marius followed him down the blue corridors until they reached the front door. The alicorn boy opened it to find Minuit Sparkle, a fellow alicorn, daughter of Midnight Sparkle, a jeerleader from Darcy Fae's jeerleading squad, and one of Penna De Mort's lackeys. But today, instead of being her usual abrasive, mean jeerleader self, Minuit was in a freaked out attitude.

"ARTEMIS! Thank God you're in you're here!" She exclaimed. "I need you right now!"

"If it's about the Villainous Witchcraft assignment that you've been complaining about..." Artemis began.

"FORGET THE STUPID HOMEWORK!" Minuit grabbed Artemis' arms and violently shook him. "IT'S PENNA! SHE'S SICK!"

"Penna?" Confusion fell upon Marius. Ever since he had snapped at Penna two and a half weeks ago, Penna hadn't shown up in school at all. Rumors had been told by Penna's closest friends, or minions, depending on how she treated them, that Voldemort's daughter had to be absent for a couple days, which eventually turned into weeks. Minuit and Jessie, another of Penna's minions, had been gathering the witch's homework while the witch herself didn't show her face at all.

Minuit's anger cut Marius away from his thoughts. "YES, PENNA'S SICK!" she shouted at the prince. "AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! IF YOU NEVER CAME HERE, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE..."

"That's enough, Minuit!" Artemis stood between the two of them. "Take us to her house!"

Minuit grumbled to herself as she led them through Malevia Village, passing by diverse houses. The further they went, the sight of Villains High began to fade away in the horizon. Fewer houses were seen, except for one, which was a grey manor with snake gargoyles, twisted columns, black tinted windows, and a garden full of serpentine mazes. The forest that surrounded the campus could be seen right behind the manor. This setting made it clear that Penna De Mort preferred to live in isolation.

"This is her house? It looks more like the asylum from that horror movie Safír made me watch on Saturday movie night," Marius commented as they got inside.

" _The Hysterical Invaders_? I hated that movie," Artemis agreed.

The inside of the manor looked both more elegant and grimmer than the outside: the floor was full of black and white tiles with snake designs on them, making the floor look like a chess battle between angry serpents. There were a few black mahogany tables with vases full of what appeared to be withering plants. Paintings of dark people Marius didn't recognize decorated the black walls. Marius saw live snakes slithering on the ceiling beams, hissing at the group.

"Penna's snake servants," Minuit said as she led the boys up a fancy, dirty white marble staircase. "Don't mind them." After reaching the sixth and highest floor of the manor, they walked towards a door with a snake emblem on it. Minuit opened the door, which revealed the inside of a dark room that was well hidden thanks to the tinted windows. The only light came from a candle on a nightstand. It showed Headmistress Jekyllyde, the school nurse, and some reptilian girl standing by a bed. And on that bed...

"My God..." Artemis, Marius, and Minuit rushed to the bed. Penna De Mort was lying under the old teal covers, her usual lavender skin turned into an awful pale mauve. Her black, teal streaked hair was lying behind her head on a pillow like a bunch of dried leaves. Heavy sweat could be seen trickling down her forever, but the scariest part was that Penna was covered with endless bandages. She almost looked mummified.

"The large amount of blood loss was enough to knock her unconscious," the school nurse said as she showed at least five buckets filled with black liquid. Marius held his nose in his hand when he realized that the black stuff was Penna's blood.

"I'm afraid that with the dark magic that has been infecting her mere metabolism since her birth, my own healing magic can't cure her," Artemis shook his head after he checked Penna's heartbeats and her forehead's temperature.

"There has to be something you can do!" the reptilian girl begged on her knees in front of Artemis.

"I can't do anything, Bloodyle. Even If I could, her body has a self-defense immunity system that won't let anyone or anything heal her unless it's Penna's own magic."

"Are you saying she's gonna die?" Jekyllyde exclaimed. "That would mean losing one of Villains High's most important financial supporters! My school will be in ruins!"

"Can we not worry about money right now?" Minuit snapped.

"It's my fault." Everyone turned towards Marius when they heard him speak. They saw the guilt on his face. "We had an argument right on the day she got sick...before she stopped showing up. If it weren't for me...she'd be in better form right now."

"Well it looks like now you're going to have to fix that problem yourself, Mr. Marius," the school nurse said. "We can't do anything, but if you can at least heal her wounds and get rid of your guilt, that should be quite helpful."

"I'll...try."

"Very well."

Everyone excluding Marius and Bloodyle left the room. Once he made sure that no one could hear him, Marius screamed: "What the Hell am I? I can't keep myself from getting cursed, nor can I protect my kingdom from my parents' enemies, and now I just got a person on her deathbed! Who am I kidding!" He dropped on a nearby chair. "I should have never been born!"

"Don't say that!" Bloodyle patted him on the shoulder while keeping a serious tone. "I've heard Penna begging for her own death her entire life! So don't say that!"

"Her whole life?" Marius looked confused. "Are you two...related?"

"In a way. My father's the basilisk of the Chamber Of Secrets and Voldemort was his master. Once the Dark Lord gave birth to Penna, he instantly dumped her under the care of my father and his mate while they were just beginning to raise their own litter of baby basilisks."

"Penna's father... _abandoned her to a bunch of snakes_?" Marius recalled seeing images of basilisks in their snake forms in one of the books at the Villains High library. Any of those giant snakes could have instantly eaten a baby whole. What kind of sick parent was Lord Voldemort?

"He didn't _abandon_ her." Bloodyle shook her head. "Think of it more like babysitting, only instead, Penna was more used to being around the basilisks than her father, who only spent time with her by forcing her to learn dark magic, do nasty services for him, and become his evil heir. So technically, my family and I have been her foster family since day one. So she's like my litter sister." She then dropped on her knees and looked tearfully at Marius with her golden snake eyes. "Which is why I'm **begging** you. Please, please save her."

Marius looked at Bloodyle's pouting eyes then at Penna's unconscious body. "I'll try."

 _About an hour or two later_

"Hey, this seems to be working!" Bloodyle said in excitement.

Previously, Marius thought that they could at least try to heal the wounds on Penna's body. After examining the unraveled cuts, he determined that grinded moss lotion from the Fae Realm should work, and since moss was beginning to grow on his bonsai oaks back in his dorm, he quickly took two flying trips until he eventually spent twenty minutes in the manor's kitchen grinding the moss with honey, salt, and bog water he managed to collect from the forest. Now, he was gently applying the lotion on all her cuts, which so far proved to be a success. It was killing the bacteria and sealing the injured skin until the wounds turned into scars that eventually disappeared.

"Bloodyle, go get a towel and some cool water," Marius told Bloodyle.

"Yes sir!" Bloodyle rushed out of the room.

There was now one more injury to deal with: the one just above her chest, where the heart seemed to be located. Decent as he was, Marius only took off some of the bandages that were wrapped around her chest. He wasn't a pervert, so it took less than a second to snap his eyes away from the fact that her troubled heaving, yet lovely chest almost reminded him of his mother's.

"Eesh," Marius said to himself. The wound was far bloodier than the others had been. It was almost as if Penna had tried to carve out her own heart with a knife.

It took almost the entire rest of the lotion to heal the wound. The skin was now reattached, but the scar still remained. Marius felt guiltier for being responsible for the damage he had caused.

"B...Bug Fly?"

Penna had weakly woken up.

"Viper Eyes," he said quietly. He watched as Penna struggled herself to sit up on her bed. "I'm...sorry."

She looked at him in a confused way. "Bug Fly, what are you doing in my bedroom?"

Marius frowned. " _This_ is your bedroom? I thought that it was some sort of medical room."

"A medical room located in the highest floor of a six-story building that is almost a third of Villains High's height?" Penna gave a small sarcastic chuckle. "Imagine that."

"Or unless you decided to turn your entire living quarters into an asylum, which would definetly sound like you." Marius watched as Penna tried to massage her temples, letting out a small groan out of her rosy lipped-mouth. Her blue eyes then noticed one of the faded scars on her arm, causing Penna to nearly scream in shock.

"What in Slytherin's name happened to me?" she exclaimed as she surveyed the rest of her body. "I was bleeding and full of scars!"  
"I took care of the scars." Marius' comment made Penna freeze and stare at him in shock. "I'm not _that_ kind of person, alright?" he groaned when he realized she probably thought the worse. "I saw your sick self, I felt guilty for most likely being the cause of it, and I put some moss lotion on your wounds! It was my responsibility in all of this, after all..."

"You...you nursed me?" Penna asked, her voice quiet and her face full of surprise.

"Yes. Just because I'm a prince doesn't mean that I do nothing. I happen to have done community service at the children hospitals back in my kingdom..."

"No, I mean, you nursed me even though we made our hatred for one another clear? Even after I insulted your world? Even after the last argument we had two weeks ago? You could have just simply let me die in my bed, which most people around here wouldn't mind doing if they had the chance. Why on earth would you possibly want Voldemort's daughter..." She stopped talking when she felt Marius' index finger on her lips, indicating her to shut up. A small texture of sour cream and blackberries (ironically, his favorite flavors so far during his stay at Villainapolis) went through his finger's skin and into his senses.

"I don't want to hear any 'Voldemort's daughter' this, or 'Voldemort's daughter' that," he said firmly before giving a small grin. "You can imagine how annoying that is, right?"

For a moment, it seemed like a gleam of joy was starting to appear in the witch's eyes until the door opened and Bloodyle came in. Seeing her litter sister awake and healed brought a lot of joy to the young humanoid basilisk, who gave a bear hug to Penna before the latter sent her out to grab some tea.

"You know, you don't look young enough to be her little sister?" Marius commented as he gently tapped the wet towel onto Penna's forehead while she kept her eyes on him.

" _Litter_ , Bug Fly, not little," Penna corrected him. "'Litter sister' is the term used by basilisks to refer to a foster sibling among a litter of baby basilisks, especially if the foster sibling is not among the biological children. Besides, Bloodyle is only a year younger." She amusingly frowned at Marius. "Hang on. Do you actually think I'm young?"

"Are you nuts?" Marius began to squeeze the towel out of its water and into the bucket. "I'm a prince. I'm not going to ask a lady's age!"

"Always such a gentleman?" Penna joked. "I'm going to guess ahead that you're probably seventeen."

"Actually I will be in a few months." For some reason, remembering that his seventeenth birthday would be taking place around the time when he'd go back home sort of...pained him. He had become quite fond of Villains High, the city of Villainapolis, and the people in it. He befriended a lot of kids at Villains High, and surprisingly, the thought that he might never see Penna De Mort again sort of...dulled his mind.

"You OK, Bug Fly?" Marius' hazel eyes looked to see Penna's blue eyes actually looking concerned at him.

"I'm fine," he lied. He picked up the bucket and began heading towards the door. "I'll be letting Headmistress Jekyllyde know that you're getting better. Have a good..."

"Marius?"

The prince was taken aback when, for the first time since they met, Penna had actually called Marius by his first name and not by 'Bug Fly'. "Yes?" he turned to look at her.

"Could you...come back tomorrow? Please?"

Had she been a beast like Helena, Marius would have told her not even in her wildest dreams, but this girl with a bleeding heart made of stone made him answer the contrary.

"Sure."


	24. Remaking Bonds

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 24: Remaking Bonds

"Is that smell coming from your plants? They're surprisingly quite fragrant!" Bloodyle said those words the next day after she saw Marius Bogfae in the manor of her litter sister and the prince was busy replacing the withered plants from some of the vases in the hallway with an assortment of plants and flowers that she wasn't very familiar with. Marius had brought some parts of his Fae Realm plant samples (apparently, Florence Poison Isley had had the guts to take DNA samples while creating that miniature forest Marius now had in his room and duplicated the sample to create her own crops of Fae Realm vegetation. While Marius wished she had asked him first, he was grateful that she let him take bigger samples of the plants) and was using them to replace the ghastly dead plants that filled the vases.

"Fresh plant fragrance is good for the health back in my kingdom," Marius told Bloodyle has he carefully cut some oak branches; the bark could injure one's hands if used carelessly. "I thought it might be helpful for Penna's health if she were in an environment that didn't...smell like death."

Bloodyle laughed. "You are both the funniest and nicest guy to have ever stepped inside this house! The place smells like death because this is the house of Voldemort's daughter! And it's so sweet that you're concerned about Penna! No guy's ever been nice to her!"

"Yes, I know of her tragic life..." Marius stopped his sentence and held onto the Night Violet that he was about to put in the vase. Unable to contain himself, Marius turned towards Bloodyle. "Bloodyle, if Lord Voldemort is such a monster as everyone says he is, then why did he even bother to sire Penna?"

Bloodyle said nothing for a moment. Obviously, she wasn't sure if whether or not she should be talking about such things to anyone else except Penna, but Marius had done a lot to ensure Penna didn't die yesterday. A debt was owed.

"The Dark Lord was always the power-craving type of villain aside from desiring immortality," Bloodyle sighed. "A long time ago, he found out that the best way to ensure supreme power and dominance over all life was to make a deal with a demon that would grant him the ability to sire a weapon..."

"Penna." Marius realized. "He wanted her as a weapon." The thought made him angry."

"Precisely," Bloodyle nodded. "But the thing is, at the last minute, the demoness he bargained with realized that Voldemort never intended to keep his end of their deal. So before she died while giving birth to Penna- for that was a personal price that demons had to pay in such deals, the demoness cursed Voldemort: his child would be his undoing.

"Fearing the curse and not even bothering to raise the baby himself like any parent since he was incapable of any love, Voldemort instantly tossed Penna to my family and had my parents nurse her. The only time he ever sacrificed for his own child was to either torment his child, force her to become a practitioner in the Dark Arts, convince her that being the daughter of Voldemort meant having no room in her heart for love, and kill a person at every single one of her birthdays."

" _He made her kill a person...at every birthday?_ " Marius nearly growled. "What kind of sick parent does that?"

"The kind that wants you to create a Horcrux, which contains a fragment of your soul and grants you immortality if you do the one thing that is considered a soul-ripping crime: murder. He did it only seven times for himself, but with Penna...Let's just say he stopped at her sixteenth birthday, since on that day, he managed to convince her to do it willingly and out of pure hatred and darkness. Can you guess what he did?"

Marius pondered a bit until he recalled the conversation he had with Penna in Potions Chemistry. _He even ruined my chances of finding romance_ , said a voice in his head.

"He prevented her from being with a man she had a crush on?" Bloodyle nodded, indicating that his guess was correct.

"There was...another school that Penna attended long before Villains High. A school for witches and wizards that Voldemort himself attended when he was her age. Due to her heritage, Penna had developed powerful magical skills that caused her to be instantly placed one academic year higher than the one she was supposed to be in once she got enrolled. Since my father's nest was hidden within the school, Penna would come see me and the rest of the basilisks, crying about how miserable her days were, how she tried everything to be nice to others, to avoid using black magic, and make friends, but to no avail. Everyone was scared of her. No matter what she tried, no matter she went, they only saw her as Voldemort's daughter and a monster, therefore running away from her whenever she put even a foot in any room.

"By the time she was in her final year at the school, she began to develop an acquaintance with some seventeen-year-old boy named Mandire Sulliver. You'd think that a boy like him from a pure-blooded wizard family from the same academic house and similar interests as Penna would have eased Voldemort and made him think: 'Hey, I'll let my daughter be with this guy since they apparently have so much in common!'" Bloodyle then leaned in and gave a swishing motion on her neck with her spidery fingers, causing Marius to flinch. " _Dead. Wrong!_ Lord Voldemort **absolutely** , **undeniably** , and **incredibly horribly** was against the mere idea of Penna crushing for the one guy in Slytherin- that was the name of their academic house- who bothered to treat her like an equal in the entire school. So what did the Dark Lord do? He used both the Imperius and Cruciatus curses on Mandire Sulliver, brainwashing and torturing him into a puppet to trick Penna into believing that he was interested in another girl!" Bloodyle's voice then saddened. "Penna was terribly devastated. The one guy she ever thought could finally give her the one thing she desired in the universe, love, with another!

"Voldemort's plan had succeeded: he was licking his lips in victory when he witnessed a hatred-boiling Penna pulling out her wand and using the Killing Curse to murder Mandire Sulliver, thus ripping a part of her soul into a Horcrux and getting a stone heart that turned her into a monster aiding Voldemort in his future plans of dominance. But if there's one thing that Voldemort didn't expect was that the endless decades of slavery just deepened his daughter's hatred towards him, and just barely 25 to 30 years ago, he was unable to stop Penna when she personally destroyed all the Horcruxes he had and therefore sent Voldemort into oblivion. You'd think that freeing herself from her creator would have put an end to a lifetime of darkness, but all it left Penna with was an empty heart and an empty life."

The next few minutes were full of nothing but the distant ticking of a clock. Bloodyle excused herself in order to check on the tea that was heating up in the kitchen, therefore leaving Marius alone to continue filling the vases while his mind dwelled on the story Bloodyle had told him. He had a hard time believing that Penna De Mort, the witch everyone dreaded, had a miserable childhood. Memories of his personal, pleasurable childhood only increased the guilt.

He decided to bring one of the vases to a nearby living room after putting at least two or three full vases in nearly every single hallway he passed. Much like the rest of the manor, the living room was quite grim looking. The walls were painted with night black colors, the large black tinted window prevented any sunlight from stepping inside the room, leaving the fireplace full of flickering green flames as the only light source. From all he could see, Marius could tell that there were at least three armchairs, a couch, a grand piano, a tea table, and shelves full of old books.

"Oh, for Oberon's sake!" Marius muttered. He placed the vase in a secure place, grabbed his father's staff from behind his back, and walked towards the window. He instantly began hitting the glass with the staff as if he were whacking a baseball bat at some old piece of furniture. Bright light instantly began filling the room. "SO much better!" Marius sighed in relief as he hung his staff back on him and picked up the vase.

"Thank you for breaking my window, Bug Fly," a sickly voice said from the couch. Marius walked towards the couch and found Penna lying on it. Her hair was rather messy and she only wore a short black nightgown underneath her unbuttoned purple night robe, causing Marius to have a quick glimpse for the first time at the bare, slender legs Penna had.

"Shouldn't you be resting in your room...like any normal sick person?" Marius arched an eyebrow.

"My bed is being cleaned for the moment, so I have to stick with the couch," Penna sat up on the couch.

"How are you feeling?" Marius asked.

"Like I got hit by a hammer on the head more than once." Penna's eyes darted towards the broken window and blinked at the newly exposed light. "Why did you break my window?"

"Too dark for an ill person," Marius shrugged. Something bumped him right on the calves. The prince looked down to see what appeared to be a boa constrictor staring at him. "Hi?" he told the snake, which only hissed at him.

"Naga, don't be rude. Say hello," Penna told the snake. "Marius, this is Naga, my personal pet snake."

"I see." Part of Marius kind of wanted to freak out since back in the Fae Realm, snakes were larger and considered deadly predators for goblins and fairies alike. Here, it seemed both smaller than Marius yet still large enough to strangle him. The prince bent down in front of Naga and held out his hand as a sign of asking trust. Naga hissed one more time at Marius and glared at the hand before eventually resting its head on it.

"Gee, you're rather soft," Marius chuckled as he petted the snake, which began to roll on the floor like a dog as Marius rubbed its belly. Penna was rather stunned by the scene.

"Seems like Naga likes you," she said with a hidden smile.

"Good thing Impius isn't there to see this, otherwise he'd be jealous," Marius chuckled. Before Penna could even ask who Impius was, Naga spotted the vase that Marius was holding. In less than a blink, Naga used its tail to grab the vase out of the surprised prince's arms and placed it on the table.

"Is...is that a fresh bouquet?" Penna stammered at the sight of the vegetation in front of her.

"Well, I...I kind of replaced the withered plants in your house with some of my kingdom in order to freshen up your place," Marius said nervously. "You know, it's part of medication back home..." For a moment, he feared that Penna would blow a fuse, but instead she trailed her fingers in the plants and buried her nose in them, inhaling the scent more then once.

"It's so fragrant!" she said in a seduced tone. "I've never smelled anything like it! It's wonderful!"

Marius let out a reassured sigh. "For a moment there, I feared that it smelled too much like goodness and mushy sensitivity..." He said.

"Are you kidding?" Penna's eyes looked gratefully at him before turning back to the vegetation she was caressing. "This is one of the rare kindness I've ever received in my life!" Her hands stopped to pull out a Night Violet. "What a lovely flower..."

"They grow a lot in the Dark Forest of my kingdom..." Marius stopped himself before saying something he feared to regret, especially after the story Bloodyle told him. His pause went noticed, unfortunately, for Penna stopped gently stroking the purple petals to see his rather conflicted hazel eyes.

"I overheard Bloodyle telling you my past," she said quietly. "You don't have to feel like you're on the verge of saying something stupid..."

"But I feel so selfish." Marius dropped on a nearby armchair. "I...I spent seventeen years of my life with the one of a royal, getting the best care my parents and family could do for me and trying every to prove that I could follow in their great footsteps. Ever since I got my heart crushed, I've started being a beast against all the values my parents tried to raise me in. Since I came here, all I did was scream and snark at my only goblin friends, reject any attempt to pursue anything other than going back home...I did nothing that was worth anybody's time and almost acted like a spoiled brat while you spent I don't know how many years of your life getting the worst out of everything that you didn't deserve!" His head dropped in his hands while his forehead heated up, not from the fireplace's heat but from self-hatred.

Penna's eyes widened, indicating that she was touched. "This is by far the weirdest and yet most sweetest thing that anyone has ever told me," she said. Naga nodded with her in agreement.

Marius looked up from his hands. "I know, I know. I'm the weirdest fairy goblin hybrid that Villains High has ever seen."

"You're at least better looking than those goblins that guard by money at the wizards' bank," Penna joked.

"Do they shed a lot?" Marius' question made Naga do a hiss that sounded like laughter.

"Hey, be polite, Naga!" Penna scolded her pet. "Do you want me to get started on the amount of skin _you_ shed?"

Marius grinned at the scene. He looked up at the clock and noticed it was beginning to get late. "I should probably get going," Marius said as he began to get up. "Safír is going to freak if he fails to see the note I left him warning him that I might be late."

"Wait!" Penna got off the couch. "I'll..." She yelped when she failed to notice her foot accidently tripping on Naga. Whether it was an accident or one of Naga's intentional doings still remained a mystery, but the fact was that Penna ended up falling onto Marius until the two of them were literally on the floor, with Marius' back glued to the ground and Penna laying on top of Marius. "Oh dear," Penna said in embarrassment as her cheeks blushed with a familiar dark hue.

"Uh...For future reference, please keep that night robe of yours buttoned up," Marius said sheepishly, for he slightly shuddered at how Penna's slightly exposed, volumed lavender bosom heaved up and down on his own chest. "Some people might get the wrong idea of your intentions."

"I'll...keep that..." Her blue eyes and his hazel ones couldn't lock themselves away from one another. "In..." Their breaths were getting too close for comfort, but it seemed like they couldn't stop themselves. "My..." Eyes were semi-closing and lips only needed one inch or two until the final impact...

"You guys want me to get a curtain the next time you make out?" Marius and Penna finally snapped back to their senses. Bloodyle was standing by the doorway, with a tray full of hot tea in her hands and an amused grin on her face.

"Absolutely not!" Penna got up and waved her hands in denial.

"We did nothing of the sort!" Marius dusted himself off.

" _Sure_ ," Bloodyle chuckled. "Penna definetly tackles people to the ground whenever she's sick."

"I'll just drop by tomorrow to see if anybody's _not_ sick," Marius quickly said. After a quick bow of the head, he literally flew out of the room and down the hall.

"Don't forget to bring champagne the next time you come! Penna will have the glasses ready!" Penna slapped her forehead while the front door was heard banging.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" Penna hissed at Bloodyle. Voldemort's daughter snatched a teacup from the tray and began to pour herself some tea before taking a long sip and letting the liquid cascade down her throat.

"Seeing that you're attracted to the prince of the Fae Realm," Bloodyle said in a casual tone as if she just said that she took a walk to the park. Penna spit the tea out of her mouth.

" _Me_? _Attracted to a fairy goblin hybrid_?" She exclaimed at the top of her lungs. "Are you out of your mind?"

"The guy practically sends your emotions into a turmoil whenever you're around him," Bloodyle listed with her fingers. "His defiance towards your evilness made you quite ill for two weeks, he acts like a gentleman towards you, he nursed your wounds, you could have just stayed bundled up in your bed once it was clean and yet you stayed in the couch in quite revealing nightwear, you went soft on a bunch of plants he brought to freshen up the manor, and you fell over him after Naga 'made you trip'. Not to mention that, if you didn't like him, you would have instantly pulled away from him the minute you landed on him, but instead you two nearly kissed until I accidently stepped in..."

"Wish you never stepped inside this living room," Penna mumbled.

"You see!" Bloodyle pointed in victory. "Face it, sister. Deny all you want, keep saying that your dark heart has no room for such things, but read my lips as I say the truth. You...are in love with Prince Marius Bogfae!" The female basilisk humanoid grinned in triumph while the lavender-skinned girl groaned in frustration and threw her empty teacup in the fireplace, nearly causing the flames to explode.

"Fine! Even if I did have a crush on Bug Fly, there wouldn't be a lasting relationship anyway!" Penna let her body drop on the couch.

"Why not?" Bloodyle crossed her arms as they rested on the edge of the couch. "I mean, sure it did not go well with Mandire Sulliver a hundred years ago thanks to your dad, but look things this way: you finally have an opportunity to put an end to that abyss in your heart, finally have something to truly love, and finally be happy! There's no Voldemort to stop you and no individual crazy enough to tell you that you don't deserve this second chance! So why are you rebuffing the idea?"

Bloodyle watched as Naga handed Penna a certain purple flower that was lying on the floor. Unbeknown to the basilisk, it was the one that Penna had pulled out from the vase and admired with genuine fascination. A dark colored teardrop began to flow itself out of the witch's eye as she stroke the flower with a familiar sense of heartbreak.

"Because he's going back home to his kingdom in less than four weeks and never come back to Villains High," Penna cried. "I'll never see him again."


	25. Left To Date

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 25: Left To Date

 _About six days and a half later_

"Naga, stop chasing that weird possum!"

The sun was setting over the woods that stood in the outskirts of the Villains High campus. After her health improved to 100%, Penna had taken several hikes in the outdoor trail with Bloodyle, the latter's best friend Indima Rex (the daughter of the Idominus Rex), and Minuit Sparkle. The hikes were usually peaceful, with the wind blowing in their hairs, the shadows rising from the ground, and the usual girl chats.

Unfortunately, Penna's pet snake Naga had encountered some sort of weird white possum and must have found it meal-material, because now the boa was slithering after the thing, leading the girls to run after it (or in Penna's case, flying, since she needed to stretch her wings).

"Can't you tell your pet to stop chasing almost everything she sees anything that looks edible?" Indima asked Penna.

"I gave her a whole pig for lunch nearly four hours ago!" Penna protested. "Not my fault she's got a giant appetite!"

"She's your snake, for crying out loud!"

They kept chasing the animals until the possum seemed to be running towards some sort of bog. Realizing that her snake was slithering towards a dangerous zone, she flew faster until she was flying above her pet. "Naga, stop it! You can't move in bog water..."

"PENNA, IMPACT AHEAD!"

Minuit's warning was a second too late: Penna couldn't hit the brakes and ended up crashing onto Marius Bogfae. The two individuals fell into the water, creating a splash.

"Marius, I'm so sorry!" Penna said in embarrassment as she got up once she noticed that she had been glued onto Marius' chest...again.

"Fallen on for the fourth time," Marius muttered as he got up after her, not even bothering to wipe the water off his body. "Such memories I'll have about this place..."  
"You mean minus the fact that this is the _worst bog_ _ **EVER**_!" Kit, Marius Bogfae's female goblin accomplice, came into the scene. Her agitating hands were wielding a brown bag that made weird noises. "I only caught one stupid frog in this mud landfill!"

"Frog?" Minuit frowned. Kit groaned as she pulled out a grey frog from her bag. The amphibian wiggled viciously as Kit held its right leg between her thumb and index. "EWW! Gross!" While Minuit looked disgusted and Indima didn't know how to react, Penna and Bloodyle looked at the frog with greed.

"What are you going to cook that thing into?" Penna asked.

"Oh, remember that time we had that frog leg stew thirty years ago back at the Leaky Cauldron?" Bloodyle licked her lips at the mere memory.

"Stop it, you'll make my stomach growl!"

"You eat frogs as well?" Marius asked the question and he looked rather glad at the mention of frog eating.

"Frogs are part of the snake diet," Penna said. Then it hit her. "That reminds me: did you see Naga by any chance? She was running after some sort of white possum."

"White possum?" Marius' face then dropped with stern realization. "Oh wait a minute..."

A scream was heard and Junk, Kit's twin brother, jumped out of the grass, tackling Naga while she tried to reach the white possum that stood perched on the goblin's head. Living frogs came hopping out of the bag that Junk was trying to hold onto tightly, but to no avail.

"Impius, come here!" Marius whistled. The white possum creature hopped off Junk's head and made quite a leap. In less than one jump, he landed in Marius' arms. Seeing that her prey had run off, Naga let go of Junk and went after Impius but stopped herself when she saw it in Marius' arms.

"Impius, what did you do now?" Marius chided.

" _That's_ Impius?" Penna pointed at the creature he held onto. She remembered Marius mentioning him when he said that the latter would be jealous if he saw Marius being liked by Naga.

"What the heck is that thing anyway?" Indima asked as she went to pet Impius on the head. "Because it's kinda cute."

"It's an imp...from the Fae Realm," Marius shrugged. "My uncle Sunny gave it to me...on the day we got sucked into the vortex that brought us here." He sounded pained at the mention of it. Penna, on the other hand, was internally displeased about the vortex's mention, for it only reminded her that Marius would be out of her life in less than three weeks. Oh, how she loathed the fact he couldn't stay longer!

"It's too much mud for me, I'm going back to my dorm!" Minuit declared as she started going back to the woods.

"Hang on! I'm coming along too!" Safír Dragon emerged from the grass. He was a laughable sight, for every inch of him was covered in mud and the bog water had soaked his fiery hair, making his bald blue head look like a blue moon. "I'm never going frog hunting...ever! I don't know how you goblins manage to do this back home, but I'm not doing it anymore!"

"Chin up, Safír, the frogs back home were at least ten times bigger than us and their breaths aren't so hot and spicy," Marius snarked.

"Good one," Penna chuckled. "Hot and spicy. Never heard that kind of joke."

"Don't forget to take Impius!" Marius winked at the imp in his arms. The latter squealed with mischief as Marius began to take a throwing position.

"No...no...NO!" Safír screamed. Marius threw Impius at Safír, who couldn't remove the clingy furry thing off him. Penna had to hold down Naga to prevent her from chasing Impius while Safír stormed off, muttering something about Impius needing to shave his skin, and followed Minuit back to the woods.

"I'm leaving as well," Kit said a few minutes later. "Obviously I won't find any good frogs here for a proper meal!"

"You want to crash at my dorm for a bit?" Indima offered. "My dormmate Ingwer knows a few duplication and size increase spells. Maybe she could solve your frog dinner issue."

"Excellent idea!" Kit beamed. She grabbed Junk by the collar and began dragging her twin brother away. "C'mon, idiot ball! We're going!"

"What about his Highness?" Junk asked.

"I'll be fine," Marius reassured his minions. "I'll stay out here a bit longer and see if I can catch any other frog..."

"Knock yourself out." Kit shrugged indifferently before they eventually left.

"Naga and I will also be going," Bloodyle said as she picked Naga up in her arms and effortlessly carried her. "You two have fun!"

"Wait, you're leaving me alone?" Penna asked incredulously.

"Correction: I'm leaving _you two_ alone," Bloodyle corrected as she walked halfway towards the woods. "Marius, make sure that Penna's back home at 10:30 at the latest!"

Penna slapped her forehead in embarrassment. "I'm not eighty-years-old, Bloodyle! I don't need you to go all mama bear on me!"

"No, you're 116, I'm your only living family, and technically speaking, I'm your bigger litter sister. Have fun!" Her smug tone eventually disappeared along with her and Naga, leaving Penna and Marius to stand alone in the bog.

"You're one hundred sixteen years old?" Marius was rather shocked. He knew Penna was perhaps a decade or two older than him, but he literally didn't expect her to be ninety-nine years older.

"Don't you dare call me an old lady!" Penna glared at him. "I got that insult way too many times!"

"Did I say that?" His calm hazel eyes stared at her, causing Penna to blush in anger about her outburst.

She sighed. "I'm sorry."

Marius gave her a small nod of understanding. His hand reached up and gently stroked her long black, teal streaked hair, prompting Penna to temporarily freeze before giving in to the touching gesture. Such a gesture of kindness she never thought to personally get.

"Doesn't your hair ever get in the way with your wings?" Marius asked curiously.

"Not really." Penna briefly looked down at her own wings: the forearms and digits were teal colored and so solid that everytime something was thrown at them, the object would break. The membrane was pale white and giving other people a good few of the black cells in her veins as they moved in circular motions in circular shapes the same way stars moved in the sky if you sped up their speed. She then looked at Marius' own wings: they were dragonfly wings, yet the colors were like those of a purple emperor butterfly and were patterned like a miscellaneous stained glass pattern. For a moment, she felt like she was observing the wings of an angel compared to her demonic ones.

She shook her mind off her brief admiration and went back to her conversation with Marius. "What makes you ask that?"

"Let's just say that pixie cuts are a permanent trend for flyers in general in my world," Marius shrugged as he removed his hand from Penna's hair, much to her chagrin. "You're the first one I've ever see with extremely long hair."

"Don't get any ideas, I can still fly properly," Penna warned. To further add her point, she sprung them open and flew off the ground. After flying at least ten feet off the ground, she stopped to look down at the surface, only to see that Marius managed to reach her ten seconds faster than she had anticipated.

"Are you challenging me, Viper Eyes?" Marius looked amused.

"Maybe. Loser roasts the frogs by the campfire?" Penna suggested.

"Yes...only with a few conditions."

"Which ones."

"You temporarily shrink our sizes so that I can properly hunt the frogs."

Penna frowned. "Why do you want me to shrink our sizes?"

"From what I've said previously, frogs are bigger where I live, therefore I'm used to hunting them when they're huge. Not to mention that, based on the environment I come from, I'm used to flying or moving around in a big world..."

"But are you sure you want me to use a shrinking spell? Because it makes the spell work for three hours and if I get shrunk, I can't use most of my magic. I'll be helpless..."

"What, it's not like you're in a rush for a date or something," Marius snickered.

"Oh, you asked for it!" Penna summoned a ball of green energy from her hands. " _Minus Engorgio!_ " A flash of light occurred, and the next thing Penna knew, she was the size of a mouse. "Ha! You happy?" She turned her head to where she last saw Marius, but the prince had disappeared. Was a seriously such a fast flyer?

She kept turning her head until she felt something crawl up her bare back and caressing her spine, followed by the roots of her wings. Penna shuddered, not because she was touched in an area in a manner that she usually found disturbing whenever she saw perverted boys apply it to unaware girls at Villains High, but because she, much to her surprise, found it _pleasurable_. Even though it was rather naughty, she never thought that anyone would touch Voldemort's daughter like this.

"Tag, you're it." Marius' voice came behind her. Penna yelped when she saw the prince behind her and giving her an amused look before he flew off into the woods.

"Oh, you'll pay for this!" Penna warned before flying after him.

They chased one another through the woods, around the cliffs, past the rocks, and straight above the trail until only an inch separating the trail of rocks from their floating chests. For the first time in her life, Penna bothered to feel the wind blowing in her hair and the sunset shining its rays at her surroundings. Surprisingly, whenever the sunrays made contact with Marius' wings, they glowed with translucent purple lights that sparkled like diamonds in the sky.

"Hey Bug Fly! Your wings are glowing! Is that normal?" Penna called out to Marius as they started flying towards a thorn bush.

"Yes! Hang on!" Marius flew back at Penna once he saw the thorns approaching. "You might want to fold up your wings."

Feeling like she should trust him, Penna folded her wings shut. Marius caught her by the waist before she could fall, making Penna blush slightly as he carried her through the thorns, managing to dodge them with both ease and grace. Once they got through, he let her go and she resumed flying.

"You were great back there!" Penna said.

"Thank you, your Ladyship!"

They kept flying until they approached a river. From the normal size range, it was just a small river with water going through a bunch of rocks, but from the smaller perspective, it looked like a big river with a series of small waterfalls.

Marius pointed at a rock just by the waters. "Last one on the rock loses!" He dashed towards the rock.

"Wait, Marius! I forgot to mention..."Unfortunately, Penna wasn't familiar with Marius' environment, so when she landed on the rock at the same time as Marius, she slipped on the wet surface and fell into the water. Her head barely got out of the cool water and was now struggling to keep herself from drowning.

"MARIUS! I CAN'T SWIM!" Penna begged. In less than a blink, Marius dove straight towards her and fished her out the water, carrying her in his arms until they reached the dry shore. The lavender girl shivered as he put her down on the earthly soil. Cold feelings and trauma were starting to overwhelm her while she struggled to rub herself to warmth due to her temporary lack of magic.

"It's my fault, I shouldn't have tempted you to race," Marius said remorsefully. He grabbed a giant leaf from a nearby plant and used it to cover Penna like a blanket.

"No, I should have told you in advance," Penna responded. Her hands were still shaking as they clutched the leaf for more warmth. Figuring out that she didn't have enough, Marius proceeded to make a campfire with the rocks and twigs that he could find. Seeing him in action like this, hunting, speed flying, and using resources for survival made Penna wonder if he really was royalty. Most of those that she encountered at Villains High were snobs caring more about their royal attires, their spoiled needs, and whether or not they accidently broke a nail. Marius was the complete opposite: he hardly ever mentioned his royal title nor did he brag about it. He did carry that large scepter of his behind his back, but she only saw him using it to beat the crap out of Junk whenever the goblin was hitting the prince's nerves. He only talked whenever he felt like it was necessary, and quite honestly, when it came to his physical appearance, he was right on the line that separated a Prince Charming from a charmless royal. He didn't have divine beauty nor did he have sickening ugliness, but he still was fairly attractive from Penna's perspective. She assumed that was one of the advantages of Marius' being half-fairy and half-goblin: not too much of this and not too much of that.

Another thing about Marius Bogfae that Penna had been slowly and silently growing fond of was is unusual kindness and casual, yet gentlemanly attitude towards her. Many individuals had run away in fright from or said the worst about Penna throughout her entire life and she still had poisonous memories of the way her biological father abused her to the point of tricking her to murder the last boy she had a crush on. Marius, on the other hand, despite not knowing much on the late Dark Lord, didn't act beastly towards Penna since their first encounter. Sure, they started off on the wrong foot, but he dealt with her behavior and treated her like a person rather than a monstrous animal. He even showed remorse when he accidently put harm on Penna and was more than willing to nurse her back to health.

No one was like Marius Bogfae and Penna knew it.

It was probably around 8:30pm now. The night sky had covered the atmosphere with its dark sheets full of bright stars. While Penna was drying off, Marius briefly went frog hunting. Turns out that he was much better at hunting those amphibians when they were bigger than him and in an environment he was familiar with: in less than half an hour after he started hunting, he came back with ten dead frogs.

"You know, for someone of royal birth, you're quite the natural survivor," Penna commented as Marius finished roasting the frog meat.

"Thanks. I..." He began to say something but stopped himself and just went on to serve some frog meat to Penna, who found the meat rather delicious.

"You were saying?" Penna asked.

"Nothing," Marius shook his head.

"C'mon, the only thing I'm going to bite is that frog meat, which is extremely scrumptious, by the way." She teasingly waved a piece of meat in her hands.

"Thanks." Marius grinned. "I'll make sure that Junk gives you his recipe. But no, I'm not going to say what I was saying because I'm rather positive that it would lead to a...uncomfortable conversation topic."

"Oh." Penna realized what he meant. "It's about your parents, isn't it?"

Marius nodded silently as he sat down next to her, watching the fire's flames flicker in the dark. His eyes, despite his attempts to act indifferently about the topic, easily reflected sour sadness.

"Marius..." Penna said quietly. She abandoned the meat and let her hand reach for his solid shoulder. The prince gave her a small stare but didn't do any reaction such as brushing off her hand.

"I miss them," he said quietly. "I can't even imagine how they're reacting towards my absence."

"They're missing you and I'm sure they'd do whatever they can just to get you back," Penna reassured him. It sounded weird, especially coming from her, but she was quite certain that for a person such as Marius, it would be impossible to imagine him with uncaring parents. Not like the one she grew up with.

"How can you be certain?" Marius asked skeptically. His voice had a small hint of doubt involving Penna's words.

"Personal experience from me and my father," Penna said. "He tried to kill an infant once long after I came and his powers were nullified for nearly thirteen years because the infant was protected by a power his mother shielded him with before my father killed her. A power I was never born with but you were."

"Love," Marius said out loud. He grinned to himself for a moment. "The one thing that made my mother immune to the love potion when Roland tried to dust her with the potion."

Penna nodded despite not knowing who the heck was Roland but assumed that it was Marius' mother's ex-fiancé. "You have it in you, Marius. Your parents genuinely loved one another and that power was thus transferred to you." She looked away in order to hide her tears. "You're lucky to have it."

She then felt a hand underneath her chin that gently pulled her head to face the prince's hazel eyes as he looked at her blue ones.

"I don't think you don't have it." His words stunned her.

"How do you that?" she asked quietly.

"You have things you care for. You treat Bloodyle like your own biological sister. You took pain badly after I accidently got your ill. You still shed tears and know what it feels like to be heartbroken. And quite honestly...you've known me better than anyone else has after my own heart was crushed. Not even my cousin was like this and we're strongly attached to one another."

Penna quietly sighed at his words while his hands gently stroked her cheeks. Her left hand covered his right one in order to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. "But you'll be gone in less than three weeks..." This time she couldn't hold the tears back. "I might never see you again!"

"I know," he said quietly. "I hate that part of the upcoming future."

The mutual feeling concerning the upcoming separation felt like a sharp needle poking a fresh wound in them, but they chose the ignore it for the present as Marius slowly pulled Penna into a deep kiss, barely startling her before she eventually let her arms wrap themselves over his shoulders and the prince pull her closer to deepen their kiss by wrapping his own arms around her waist. The first true romantic exchange they've ever experienced in their long lives lasted longer than the campfire that died out and the sparks that flew to join the stars.


	26. Soulmates

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 26: Soulmates

"It's just a dinner, Safír!"

"With Penna De Mort! I'm warning you, if I find this place turned into some sort of snake nest next Monday morning, I'll be wearing a goblin fairy hybrid skin coat at the last day of school!"

About a week had passed since Marius and Penna's shared their first kiss and kept their...newly romantic involvement stable through quick kisses and Marius frequently visiting Penna at her manor before going on another one of their flights in the woods. Now, since Safír was going on a small three-day internship on the other side of Villainapolis and therefore wouldn't be at their apartment until Monday, Marius had decided to invite Penna over for dinner on Friday night. The prince had to do some serious cleaning until the living room was dust-free and the table was well set with a white tablecloth, presentable, but simple silverware, napkins, glasses, and plates, and a vase full of dark roses and Night Violets (two flowers that Penna and Marius both admired). Junk and Karl had helped Marius cook the meal, which was a combination of classic Fae Realm dishes that Junk learned to make back in the royal kitchens and Karl's delicious chocolate and cranberry cake for dessert.

"Safír, I promise that this place won't be affected by anything of any sort," Marius crossed his heart. "I swear it on my royal title."

"Fine, just make sure that your girlfriend doesn't go anywhere near my room," Safír shrugged as he grabbed his suitcase and began heading towards the door.

"You locked your door and had I-don't-know-what's-his-name cast a protection spell on it until Monday. Also, she's not my girlfriend. Well..."

"Is it about your curse?" Safír turned to look at Marius, who said nothing. "Does she even know about it?"

"Well...no," Marius sighed. How the hell could he tell Penna about his curse? It was already tough for them to not know how to deal with their romance after Marius returned to his royal duties back home, but how could he avoid to add more weight to the balance by telling to Penna: ' _Oh by the way I happen to be fatally cursed and the only way to free myself is my one true love_ '? He loved Penna, but he didn't know if she truly was the one. He still had to make sure he didn't repeat the mistake he made with Helena.

His eyes then darted towards the Night Violets in the vase. The flowers' legend gave him a small wave of idea.

"I think I'll manage," he told positively to Safír. "Good luck on your internship."

"Sure. See you on Monday," Safír said.

The blue dragon boy left, and about an hour later, right when the clock struck seven, a knock was heard on the door, and when he opened it, he saw Penna standing there with a large pot full of lasagna in it.

"Hey," she said shyly, a trait she developed during their relationship. "I brought lasagna."

"You shouldn't have," Marius said as he let her in. "I'm the one inviting you for dinner...and Junk and Karl would have felt like they did all their cooking for nothing."

"Let them rest assured that I think it was nice of them and that I'm just being civil." Penna placed the lasagna tray on a free spot on the table before admiring all the set up. "This looks all wonderful! I've never seen such a nice table set up. Usually I'm used to bare mahogany tables with dull looking food."

"Not worthy of a lady, hm?" Marius asked teasingly.

Penna pretended to think before turning back to Marius and saying: "Well, there _were_ a few appetizers missing."

"Forgive me. Allow me to serve them." He then proceeded to gently pull her into a kiss. While she silently moaned when her rosy lips met his rough browned ones, one of his hands rested on her waist, covered by her black and teal snake patterned turtleneck dress, while the other proceeded to caress the long hair that flowed down from her head. It still amazed him on how such long hair could feel so soft like a flower's petal and remain untangled from her wings.

They broke the kiss, letting their foreheads touch one another as they gasped for air. After a minute or so, Marius led her to the table and the two finally ate. It was a very enjoyable dinner, much better than the ones his grandmother kept trying to push Marius into with one of the bachelorettes she ran into.

Two hours later, they were washing the dishes together. The reason why dinner had taken so long was because the couple had practically spent more time talking then eating, sharing stories, jokes, and interests that made the two realize then they had far more in common than they believed: they both liked dark flowers (especially Night Violets), hated love potions, thought that Villains High's news and gossip clash between Charles Frollo and Leidi Du Wifi was pathetic, preferred peppermint and coffee flavored ice cream, disliked musicals like the ones they were forced to learn in Evil Drama Class ( _especially_ 'The Sounds Of Evil), liked to spend quiet times alone...The list was infinite.

"My compliments to Junk for the dishes he cooked," Penna told Marius as she put the plates back in their compartment while Marius rinsed the glasses in the sink. " **Special** emphasis on the daisy honey juice."

"Yes, I agree with you personally that he makes the best daisy honey juice." He marveled at the mention of his favorite beverage from the Fae Realm.

"Personally?" Penna closed the compartment once she finished putting away the plates.

"He and Kit have a big rivalry on who makes the juice. Don't tell Kit, but I lied about liking her juice while in reality in tasted like turtle poop." He was about to grab a sponge to clean the dirty kitchen sink, but Penna instantly used her magic to make the sponge and soap become sentient and clean the kitchen in five minutes flat until it sparkled and they became inanimate again.

Despite his initial hatred of magic (courtesy of his Stone Heart Curse and his family's history with love potions), Marius had actually grown fascinated with Penna's magic: whenever she used it, it looked like green and teal colored smoke slithering like snakes that glowed like the weird ball that many students at Villains High loved to use for 'disco parties'. One of the things about Penna is that she didn't use her magic at every single second, but she still needed magic to survive thanks to her...troubled history. So she kept a stable leverage of magic use and mostly tended to do things with her bare hands.

"I'll keep that in my mind," Penna told Marius before going towards the Night Violets from the vase at the table and caressed their purple petals. "As lovely as they are, I still find it rather strange that these flowers don't appear fully bloomed."

 _Well, here comes my shot_ , Marius thought.

"They do bloom," he said. He pulled out one from the vase and briefly sniffed its fragrant scent. "It just happens rarely." He then held it out to Penna, whose icy blue eyes stared with complete touched affection while her hand reached for the Night Violet he was giving her.

"How often does it..." Penna stopped herself when she saw a strange phenomenon happen. The couple stared at the Night Violet, which suddenly bloomed open once Penna's hand and Marius' touched one another while holding on to the stem. Bits of the flower's pollen flew out and shone like a thousand stars. "Happen?" Penna finished. Marius, for his part, looked troubled.

"Excuse me for a moment," he said before Penna could ask anything and proceeded to exile himself in the bathroom, where he hunched over the sink and stared at his troubled reflection.

"She's my soulmate..." He whispered between his teeth. "She's my soulmate and I'm about to lose her. Marius, what am you going to do?"

He couldn't stay, that was for sure. He had a family he cherished and who needed him, but he had Penna, who truly loved him and he reciprocated it, which was the opposite of Helena. He was to become the next king, but he was attached to Villains High and everything in it. Daylight was like a sister and best friend to him, and Safír Dragon had been his bestest friend at Villains High after Penna.

Maybe he could suggest to Penna to come with him to the Fae Realm, stay together, and maybe, _just_ maybe, become his queen? That sounded like a wonderful dream, but Penna surely had a life of her own at Villains High and her litter sister Bloodyle would miss her. Marius couldn't be that cruel enough to pull her away like pulling a weed from a garden! He could perhaps return to Villains High in the fall and do another year of school and graduate, as Safír and a few other students who liked having Marius around had suggested, but Marius was needed back home. So many questions...

"WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE SO COMPLICATED?" he slammed his fists on the mirror, causing the glass to break and for his hands to bleed. He got a few shards on his body, but he didn't care.

Wondering if Penna heard him, he proceeded to get out of his short exile and instantly found the door of his bedroom open and Penna standing there, observing a parchment in particular.

"Penna..." Marius began as he stepped inside.

"Is that your family?" she turned to show him the parchment she was staring at, causing a stab on his cursed heart.

When he first came to Villains High, one of the art students, Nora Belartiste, made him a welcoming gift: using Marius' descriptions, she made a very accurate illustration of a family portrait his family had taken a few years ago during the Summer Equinox. Marius had almost cried when he saw the accurately illustrated Bog King and Fairy Queen Marianne standing next to his illustrated self along with the rest of his family (grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin) in it. He kept the parchment hanging on his bedroom wall as an extra reminder of home.

"Yes," he said quietly.

"You look so much like your parents." Penna's eyes stared at the illustrated couple, and seeing how they stood next to their son, holding on to him lovingly while smiling in front of them, gave out a small look of envy. Obviously, she never had the privilege to have a family like this. She chuckled at the sight of Griselda. "Your grandmother doesn't look exactly like what I expected."

"What, you imagined she looked like a version of me in a dress?" Marius laughed out loud. An image of the scene appeared in his mind.

"Marius, what happened to your hands?" Penna put the parchment on the desk and held his hands, contemplating the weird grey blood he had.

"I smashed a mirror," he said flatly.

"You want seven years of bad luck?" Penna asked as she made him sit on his bed while she waved a hand over his injured ones, using her magic to heal them.

"Sorry, I'm just...getting frustrated..." Marius stared at his healed hands while Penna tried to gently pluck the shards off his body. Marius mostly shuddered at her touch than at the pain the shards were giving him. He then looked up and saw something new on Penna's hair: a jeweled hair clip, which looked very much like the bloomed Night Violet...

"You turned the Night Violet into a hair clip?" He was stunned. Penna paused and unclipped her hair in order to show him the new jewel.

"I wanted to preserve it," she said. "It was...very meaningful for me. Thank you for giving it to me. I find it lovelier when bloomed."

"Uh, yeah, about that. Penna, a Night Violet only bloom if a goblin presents it to his or her soulmate. It was part of a legend that I've been told several times back home and my father told me that's what happened to him when he gave a Night Violet to my mother. I wasn't sure if whether or not it was true...until now."

Penna herself looked shocked, her eyes blinking from the revelation. "I'm your...soulmate?"

"From what the flower shows, yes."

"But isn't that a good thing?"

"I...well...I don't know what to think anymore. I'll soon have to go back home to my world and leave this one, but I'm torn! I don't want to lose you and Villains High, but I can't turn back at my family and people! I don't know what I'm going to do..." His tearful eyes met the palms of his hands and sobbed. This was the second time he sobbed in his life, the first time being when he found the truth about Helena.

Penna placed a comforting hand on his shoulder while he cried for the next ten minutes. "What if you...talked about it to your parents?"

"In what way?" He lifted up from his tears.

"I don't know...Maybe say what your time here was like, say that while you know you have to be king, you want to spend at least some more time at Villains High and your friends before then, and that you got a crush on a magic wielder who happens to be your soulmate thanks to the prediction of a flower? Or...maybe you could introduce me to them and see whether or not they approve of our relationship?"

"You'd...be willing to come with me to the Fae Realm?" Marius' tears instantly dried. "But...how would you come back to Villainapolis?"

"Dark fairy wing shard, I know a few friends who can travel through realms...Besides, Minuit told me that Kit keeps saying how nice summer is at your world." She made Marius grin.

"You know, for a so-called lady of evil, you're a genius, Viper Eyes," he said.

"Gee, thanks!" She blushed. "I've been called worse.

"You only made one mistake. I don't have a crush on you."

Penna nearly freaked. "Wait, what?"

Marius snickered at her near- heart attack. "I'm _in love_ with you, not _crushing_ on you. There's a big difference."

"Bug Fly, you nearly killed me!" Penna slapped on the hand he was currently using to caress her cheek.

"My bad," he joked. "I thought this was a school for villains."

"Very funny."

He then pulled her towards him and into another kiss, deepening them further as he touched her waist and she gently caressed his neck. It almost seemed like they were sparring until he managed to have her lay on the bed while he dominated over her.

"Mmh," Penna moaned while his kisses got more passionate and deeper into her mouth. Her mind and soul were busy being in Heaven while Marius managed to find the zipper that helped him bring the turtleneck dress down from the lavender skinned girl's body one step at a time. He didn't rush, so once he and Penna had plentiful of deep, passionate kisses, his lips began to trail their way towards her cheeks and down her neck, feeling their snakeskin texture and kissing their softness. Penna found herself moaning with even deeper pleasure as he repeated his exact gestures down the rest of her body.

Long story short, to avoid censor critiques, their garments were on the floor, they got deflowered for the first time in their lives, and all their deep affection sharing led to the soulmates falling deeply asleep on Marius' bed around midnight.


	27. The Bearer of Bad News

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 27: The Bearer of Bad News

The sun was barely rising the next morning when Impius found himself running away from Naga...again. For some reason, the pet snake of Penna De Mort didn't seem to get that the imp didn't want to become snake food.

Impius finally reached the building of the Bad Dormitory and made his way towards the pipe that he usually used to climb on the walls and into his master's room. Unfortunately, Naga was much faster than he had anticipated and ended up chasing him all the way up the roof.

' _Wait!_ ' Naga hissed. ' _I don't want to eat you!'_

 _'As if!'_ Impius chirped.

 _'Seriously! I just wanted to ask you if you saw my mistress! She hasn't returned home last night!'_ The snake did sound panicked at the idea of her mistress missing, so the imp had to take the reptile's word for it.

 _'Wasn't she supposed to have dinner with my ma...Oooh...'_

Impius wasn't sure if his theory was correct, but he needed to verify, so he briefly made peace Naga and the two went down the pipe. Naga let Impius sit on her back as she slithered on the wall until they reached the window leading to Marius Bogfae's room and nearly fell off the wall when they saw the last thing they ever imagined. It wasn't the room, which still had a Spartan appearance, and it wasn't the boxes in which the prince had started setting up in order to bring certain things back home. No, it was the bed, or to be specific, what was _on_ the bed. Naga and Impius would have almost lost their eyeballs just for seeing their masters lying next to each other, deeply asleep, and Marius holding onto Penna while she cuddled herself closer to his bare, heaving chest. To top it all, the pets noticed that a snake-themed turtleneck dress and boots, and leaf, bark-like exoskeleton and clothes were messily lying on the floor by the bed's feet.

' _Wow. These guys_ _ **have**_ _been busy,_ ' squealed Impius.

 _'You got to admit, they do look cute together, especially when they're unconscious,_ ' Naga made a rather pleased hissing sound as she glanced at her mistress. _'This is the first time I actually see Penelope sleeping so peacefully...'_

 _'Penelope?'_ Impius nearly snorted. _'Penna De Mort's actual first name is_ _ **Penelope**_ _? Penelope De Mort?'_

 _'Actually, it's Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle. You'd be surprised, but her father's name is actually Tom Marvolo Riddle, and mix the letters together, you get 'I AM LORD VOLDEMORT'. Pretty weird, huh?'_

 _'So, Penelope is called Penna De Mort...'_

 _'Which sounds like Voldemort, because Voldemort means 'flight from death', and Penna means 'flight'.'_

 _'So daddy made his daughter call herself 'Voldemort' in female version?'_

 _'Precisely.'_

 _'Man, and I thought it was weird that the Bog King named my master after his wife Marianne.'_

 _'Seriously?'_

 _'Yeah. You see...'_

 _A few minutes later_

After Naga and Impius left to what would eventually become a beautiful friendship, Marius' hazel eyes fluttered from the sunlight coming through the window. For a moment, he forgot what he was doing until he felt something shift in his arms and a cold feeling on his skin. He looked down and saw Penna, sleeping so peacefully while cuddling so close to his chest as if she was desperate for warmth. Marius smiled when he saw how peaceful she looked while sleeping with him. The last times he saw her asleep or unconscious (especially during her sick days), she always looked like she was being traumatized by nightmares. But now, she was a real Sleeping Beauty.

Carefully, one of the hands he had holding on to her curved, bare waist went towards her loose hair and gently stroke it, inadvertently causing Penna to open her blue eyes.

"Morning, Viper Eyes," the prince said soothingly.

"Morning, Bug Fly," she slightly moaned as she tried to sit up on the bed. Marius helped her get into a comfortable sitting position. She rubbed her eyes. "I can't believe I actually managed to sleep dreamlessly..."

"How does that feel for you?" Marius gently caressed her back, sending warmth down the lavender skinned girl's spine.

"Better than usual," Penna smiled before leaning him and lovingly kissing him. Marius pulled her closer in order to increase their personal pleasures. Honestly, why hadn't he met Penna before? "Bug Fly..." she moaned in pleasure as his lips then went down to kiss her neck. She nearly gasped after he gave her skin a few nips.

"I'm right here," he reassured her before kissing her rosy lips again. "I'm right here."

 _Later_

"Uh, Marius? I sincerely hope I don't accidently get pregnant from our...latest activity," Penna said. She just got out of the shower (and took the liberty of casting a fixing spell on the mirror) while Marius was making them coffee. Despite their mutual attraction and the revelation that they were soulmates, Penna still had some difficulty saying 'lovemaking'. After all, let's not forget that she was 116-years-old and basically 99 years older than the prince.

"You won't," Marius reassured her as he finished preparing the coffee and poured it in two mugs. "Goblins back in the Fae Realm have a special immune system led by special hormones that can tell when a goblin's body is mature enough for child bearing. Usually, a goblin's only mature for that kind of thing after being married..."

"So you're telling me that almost every single goblin in your kingdom has to wait until he or she is married in order to give birth?" Penna frowned, both weirded out and curious of the fact, as Marius gave her a coffee mug.

"Precisely. The system still applies for relationships in between species. Take my parents, for instance. They've shared several nights together once they started dating and it wasn't until after they were married a year later that my mother became pregnant with me for 23 months straight..." He stopped when he heard Penna spit out her coffee out of her mouth. "What? Goblins have longer pregnancies than other species!"

"No, Marius, your coffee is sour," Penna gagged as she summoned a glass of water with a snap of her fingers and desperately tried to rinse the horrid taste of her mouth.

"So that's why Safír told me it tasted like oil mixtures everytime I tried making some! Damn it!" Marius slapped his forehead. "I'm so sorry, Penna!"

"Lesson learned: never give me evolution lessons and your coffee together, Bug Fly!" Penna was still disgusted by the bad coffee, but eventually got the flavor out of her mouth.

"How can I ever repay myself?" Marius asked sincerely.

Penna smirked. "I know a good cafe by the docks of Villainapolis. For nearly poisoning me, you owe me a proper brunch."

"That'll work."

 _Near the end of day_

"RANDOLPH!" Safír literally broke the front doors of the Bad Dormitory open. "HAVE YOU SEEN MARIUS?"

"Have you seen the school manual saying that screaming in the dorms is forbidden?" Randolph asked sarcastically as he sat on his usual spot at the secretary desk, still looking bored even though he was playing _Sugar Rush_ , his favorite video game.

"Safír? Weren't you supposed to be out of school for a three-day internship?" Darcy Fae asked from the chair she was sitting at in the main lobby while she and Bloodyle were watching Kit and Junk playing a game of chess.

"I was, but then I ran into this guy who said he was looking for Prince Marius Bogfae." He made way for another person to come in. Darcy and the goblin twins nearly fell of their seats when they saw that the guy was none other than Bruno, the son of the goblin Brutus, and a childhood friend of Kit and Junk.

"Bruno!" Kit rushed to hug Bruno. Seeing the two goblins hug slightly darkened the blue cheeks of Safír Dragon.

"Bruno, buddy! We missed you!" Junk went to hug the goblin as well after Kit was done.

"I'm so happy to see you guys, but where's his Majesty? I need to talk to him," Bruno said urgently.

"Last I heard, he and Penna went out in town," Bloodyle said. She pulled out her phone and began texting.

"Penna?" Bruno frowned. "Who's Penna?"

"Uh...She's..." Kit hesitated.

"Are you talking about me?"

Everyone turned towards the entrance, where Marius Bogfae and Penna De Mort stood, the latter holding her phone in hand from checking the text she just received from Bloodyle.

"Bruno?" Marius was shocked to see a goblin boy from his home world at Villains High.

"Your Majesty!" Bruno bowed to the prince. "I have some bad news..."

 _Several minutes later_

"So let me see if I get this straight," Bloodyle said after Bruno told everything to everyone as they sat on the chairs in the waiting area (even Randolph bothered to get of the secretary desk to join them) while Marius paced around in anxiousness. "After Marius, his pet, Kit, and Junk got sucked into the vortex on purpose by Marius' ex-crush, Marius' parents the Bog King and the Fairy Queen were working with Darcy's mom to speed up some dark fairy wing shard to open a portal here in order to rescue their son, but then the queen's ex, who's also the father of Marius' ex-crush, and his thirteen kids threw an invasion and ended up capturing everyone in the royal family, create a massive wall at the old barrier after exiling every hybrid in the kingdom into the Dark Forest sector, and he's planning on executing the Bog King tonight at sundown and force the queen to marry him in order to take the crown."

"Pretty much." Bruno nodded.

"Geesh," Safír said, turning his head to look at Marius. "What are you going to do?"

"Well for one I can't stay here and do nothing!" Marius snapped. "My parents need me! I have a kingdom to save! But Darcy's wings still aren't properly healed to open a portal back home! And even if I could find a way back home, how the hell am I going to confront Roland and his forces?"

"Maybe that's why he threw your curse at you?" Randolph suggested. "I mean, using a Stone Heart Curse..."

Penna stared at Marius in disbelief. "Marius? You...you have the Stone Heart Curse? You're going to die?"

Marius had always feared of telling Penna about his curse. He hoped that he wouldn't, but luck wasn't on his side. "Penna..." A gag caught him off when Penna literally inserted her hand into his chest and moved her fingers around the flesh of his heart. A few minutes later, she pulled her now blood-covered hand from his exoskeleton.

"Your Highness!" Bruno rushed to help Marius get up straight on his feet.

" **What the Hell, Viper Eyes?** " the prince nearly screamed.

"You still have a crack on your heart," Penna gasped. Silence followed, and when the goblins saw the looks that Penna, Bloodyle, and Darcy had on their faces, they knew that something was wrong.

"What are you talking about?" Junk asked.

"Cursed hearts get 'cracks' on them, which sort of determines how much time the heart has left to live," Bloodyle explained. "And since the Stone Heart Curse is literally a heartbreaking spell, the cracks multiply and consume the heart's energy by doing so. The more you fill the heart with loveless and negative emotions, the more cracks come and then your dead. But if you use the cure, true love, then the cracks slowly and surely heal until your heart is curseless."

"But even if one crack remains, you're still vulnerable," Penna said quietly. "And the more you feed it, the more it spreads its poison and kills you." She dropped on her chair and sobbed. "Marius, you can't go..."

"Penna, I have to. My parents need me!"

"You could be killed and then it will be certain of us never being together!" Her icy blue eyes were pouring with tears as she looked up at his hazel eyes. "Please don't be like Mandire...Marius, I won't know what life will be like if you aren't in it..."

The prince knelt in front of her and held her clenched fists in his hands. Roland had played his revenge well: by throwing the Stone Heart Curse and having Helena break Marius' heart and send him into another world where he was bound to meet his soulmate, even if true love cured most of his heart, only one crack could easily kill him. But would his heartbreak from saving his parents and never seeing Penna again? Or would it be from choosing her over his kingdom?

"You know, there is an option C."

Everyone stared at Randolph as if he just spoke in alien code.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that! I'm just the shallow guy who keeps hearing every passing student saying 'How I would take over the world' almost every single minute of my part-time job, and if I were to take over a kingdom from the guy who stole it from me, I'd just take it back by rallying my friends and those the usurper shut away, crash the execution/wedding party, and celebrate my victory. _That_ , Marius, is option C."

"Rally the hybrids and my friends and defeat Roland?" The prince sarcastically commented. "And how the hell am I going to lead an army like this if I can't even open a portal with a dark fairy shard."

"Dude, have you even looked around you? Villains High is full of kids with special powers and I know a few who can open portals..."

"And you didn't mention it sooner?" Marius gritted his teeth.

"You never asked me," Randolph replied smugly. "How often do you think people ask me question when I'm at work?"

"Great. After we ready to help Marius defeat Roland, remind me to tell Jekyllyde to fire you," Penna responded as she got up and joined Marius' side. "So, are we ready to follow you and defeat the jerks who made the mistake to mess with Marius Bogfae?" As if to join her, Naga came slithering in with Impius standing on her head and presenting the Bog King's staff to Marius. Determination filled the prince's face as he took the staff in his hands.

"Well?" He asked his group of friends. "Are you ready?"

"Alright!" Safír clapped his hands.

"Well said, Your Majesty!" Bruno cheered.

"Let's go beat some ex-butts!" Bloodyle pressed her hands together.

"Roland and co are gonna pay painfully!" Darcy hopped on her seat.

"Good job, Marius," Randolph said.

"We're going back home!" Kit and Junk hugged one another.

"Time to show what happens to the real bad guys when they mess with Marius Bogfae and his gang from Villains High," Penna finished.


	28. Return to the Fae Realm

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 28: Return to the Fae Realm

 _At the Fae Realm_

Something blue glowed behind a rock, prompting nearby animals to run away. Then, a blue doorway sparkling with stars opened, making thirteen people, or in this case teenagers, an imp, and a snake, walk out of it and into the Fae Realm.

"Welcome to the Fae Realm, my friends," Marius held out his arms out before dropping onto his knees and caressing the soil. "Finally! After so long, I'm home!"

"It's so natural..." Penna stroke some moss on a nearby rock.

"Will you look at the size of that grass!" Minuit exclaimed as she pointed at the grass that towered before them.

"Actually, that's the normal size, Minuit." Kit dusted off her jacket. "Unlike in Villainapolis, the normal size of our civilization is the equivalent of insects. Even Impius was small..."

A yelp caught their attention and they saw that Jessie Joker had freaked out when she saw that Naga had transformed into a large snake with its mouth big enough for the now insect-sized teenagers to walk into. Penna soothed her pet.

"Everybody came out of the portal?" Artemis Nightmare asked. "Marius? Penna? Kit? Junk? Safír? Randolph? Minuit? Jessie? Indimia? Bloodyle? Darcy? Bruno? Impius? Naga?" Once everybody confirmed that they were here, the son of Nightmare Moon waved his scepter and closed the portal.

"You know, you should consider using your powers to open portals for foreign students at Villains High," Darcy suggested in a slyly tone. "That would spare me and the rest of my dark fairy peers from a rough travel and butt landing via wing shard."

"Sorry, Darcy, but my powers aren't used for such laziness." Darcy pouted.

"Hey, is this wall part of the Fae Realm, Marius?" Bloodyle pointed at something that lay a few feet away. A large wall, probably a quarter taller than Naga was, made of grey stones that seemed to have endless limits. Penna snapped her fingers, summoning a black snake spyglass telescope that she used to spy on the wall.

"I'm seeing guards in front of some gate...and they're dragging goblins and hybrids in there!" She gasped in horror. "How awful! One of them just kicked a hybrid toddler!"

"That's the wall that Roland had constructed on the barrier!" Bruno clenched his fists. "Gods curse him, but he managed to force the most monarchs' guards into serving him unless they wanted the Fairy Queen dead!"

"He'd kill Marius' mother?" Penna asked as she snapped away her telescope. "But Marius, I thought he needed to marry your mother in order to claim the crown."

"He's smarter than I thought," Marius muttered. His fists clenched his scepter tighter.

"Marius, calm down. Remember your...health condition," Safír told Marius. The latter followed his advice and took deep breaths.

"Sorry. It's just..." His voice trailed off. "I completely forgot about my aunt Dawn, my uncle Sunny, and my cousin Daylight. Me and my parents aside, their also next in line to be the regent family. And my aunt Dawn is my mother's sister..."

"So if it turns out that Roland has to kill the Fairy Queen, your mother, along with the Bog King and you, he could kill your uncle, making your aunt a widow and force _her_ into marrying him," Randolph finished for Marius. "And if he also has to kill your aunt, then he could do the previously said to your cousin."

"That's a whole lot of murdering," Indimia deadpanned. "If that ever happens, he might as well destroy the entire royal family..."

"And force _his_ family to become the monarchs!" A dark look began to gleam in Marius' eyes. "There's no other option. I have to go to the castle, rescue my family and kingdom, and get rid of Roland once and for all!"

"But how are we going to do that, you're Majesty?" Bruno asked. "We have less than an hour and a half before sundown before your father's execution and we can't leave the others trapped behind the wall!"

Marius rubbed his chin in thought before he grinned at his plan.

 _A few minutes later, at the wall_

"Hurry up!" A guard barked at a goblin elf hybrid. "We don't have all day!"

The hybrid ran off to find shelter in one of the makeshift huts that have been provided to the goblins and hybrids in the Dark Forest grounds. Scraps of food were tossed by guards onto the ground, forcing prisoners to fight for them. If this wasn't enough, the branches from the rising trees were worst: they were occupied by wooden bridges occupied by guards, watching out for any signs of a possible prison mutiny. Then again, with the loss of hope rising among the prisoners, how could a mutiny possibly occur?

 **BANG!**

"What was that?" one of the guards shouted from one of the bridges. This got the attention of the prisoners as well and soon, they were all rushing against a bunch of guards that were trying to keep them away from the large breach that had destroyed a great quantity of the wall.

"GET BACK IN YOUR HUTS!" One of the guards shouted. Then, out of nowhere, an oval object popped out of the smoke and landed close enough to be picked by any of the guards if they took one step closer. "What the..." The oval object exploded, unleashing a green smoke that engulfed the screaming guards before they started laughing uncontrollably.

"What's with them?" The prisoners frowned in confusion. They then saw seven figures coming out of the shadows and past the laughing gas.

"Laughing gas," Jessie Joker chuckled as she put away her gun. "It _never_ gets old."

"Who are you?" one of the prisoners asked.

"Oh, we're just the rescue team and pep rally squad," Minuit joked. Darcy then flew in front of her Villains High comrades. Gasps were heard among the prisoners who recognized her.

"People of the Fae Realm! Prince Marius Bogfae has returned! As I speak, he's headed his way to the castle to put an end to Roland's tyranny! But he cannot do it alone!" Darcy shouted.

"Yeah!" the prisoners shouted.

"So let's go get those so-called righteous wannabes and show them what it's like to be united against a common enemy and protect our beliefs!" Bruno joined in.

"Yeah!"

"Goblins, hybrids, elves, fairies, whatever species you are!" Indimia joined in as well. "Let's all invade the castle and show Roland that we've got muscles!"

"Yeah!"

The prisoners (and the remaining guards who got a change of heart) cheered and grabbed any weapon they could find from a sword to a teapot before storming out of the wall and through the flower fields in order to reach the castle.

"By the way, Randolph, that was cool the way you brought down the wall with just your fists," Bruno said as he and Randolph rode on a squirrel among the stampede of revolutionary prisoners.

"Eh, I'm the son of Wreck-It-Ralph." Randolph shrugged. "It's what I do."

Meanwhile, Minuit, Darcy, and Artemis flew in the air while Jessie rode on Indimia (who transformed into her dinosaur form in order to give Jessie a lift and run faster).

"I hope we're not too late!" Darcy looked at the sun as it was getting closer and closer to disappearing from the horizon.

 _Sundown_

Drums were beating in the arena that stood behind the Bogfae Palace. Elf and fairy citizens were struggling against the guards that were unwillingly forcing them to remain in their seats while Roland and his thirteen children, along with a chained Marianne and the rest of the captive royal family, stood on the audience platform meant for the monarchy.

"It's time, Buttercup," Roland gloated at the Fairy Queen's ear, "to witness the beginning of a new era. Once the scaly-backed cockroach loses his head tonight, we'll be married right here on this platform."

"I'd rather die than marry you!" Marianne hissed.

"That can be arranged," Helena said smugly. "After the wedding."

"Ugh!" Daylight struggled in her bonds. "And to think I was right to suspect you from the start!"

"Gee, like you did a really good job at it."

Roland curled his hair before heading to the platform's balcony and speaking to the audience as a chained Bog King was being dragged by guards towards a guillotine that stood at the center of the arena.

"Citizens of the Fae Realm," he spoke loud and clear, "the day that you've all been waiting for has arrived. Our kingdom will go back to its old, proper, civilized, and clean ways. The disgusting creatures that have plagued us all have been sent back and permanently exiled to the Dark Forest. The Fairy Kingdom is now reborn, and to commemorate its refound beauty, we shall punish the one who has started all of this mess! Executioner! Drop the blade on the Bog King!"

Complaints and exclaims of horror were heard among the crowd and the royal family as the Bog King was placed in the guillotine's lunette. Roland and Helena's smirks of victory increased as the executioner began to grab the rope that would release the blade and chop off Lysander's neck once it was pulled.

"No!" Marianne exclaimed tearfully.

" **PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!** "

A blast of light shaped green and teal snakes struck the executioner, completely petrifying him before he even pulled the rope. The crowd and the royal family gasped in shock.

"What just happened?" Roland demanded. The ground shook and a large snake rose above the arena, making Roland scream like a little girl and the crowd scream as well. Then, the snake lowered its head onto the ground in order to let six humanoid creatures hop off its head. The figure that stood at the lead of the group got the attention and shock of everyone.

" _I_ just happened to be back, Roland!" Marius Bogfae shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

"The prince is back!"

"Prince Marius has returned!"

"The prince is back! We're saved!"

"Marius!" The Bog King and the Fairy Queen Marianne exclaimed at the sight of their son. What happened next still remains a mystery, but most believe that it was the power of love that gave strength back to the royal family, encouraging them to successfully break their bonds and rush off the platform in order to reach Marius. The mighty Bog King got his strength make and destroyed his bonds, along with the guillotine.

"Marius!" Marianne cried as she and her son embraced one another in a hug. " Oh Marius, my baby!"

"Mother..." Marius' voice quivered from the sobs and tears that he was trying to hold back.

"My son!" The Bog King hugged Marius as well. "My son, you have no idea how terrible I feel after what happened..."

"Father..."

" **YOU!** "

The family embrace didn't last long. Roland and his children were now flying down onto the arena, with Roland looking angrier than ever through his one good eye.

"How come you're still alive? The Stone Heart Curse should have destroyed you by now!" He spat.

"This is the guy who wants to take over the kingdom?" Safír frowned before addressing Marius. "Your parents' arch-foe is smaller than I expected. You're sure he's not some sort of oversized elf?"

His comment made Roland stiffen in broken pride.

"And what's with the green armor?" Bloodyle looked like she wanted to throw up, so she covered her mouth with one of her hands. "If his fairy power is to make people sick, then he's doing a good job!"

The audience and the royal family were laughing as Roland was getting himself humiliated by the crowd. "SILENCE!" he barked. He shook in his hands the crown that once belonged to the Fairy King but that he had stolen during his siege. "I AM THE KING OF THE FAIRY KINGDOM! YOU WILL TREAT ME WITH RESPECT!"

"Was that the crown?" Penna gave out a mock gasp. "My bad, I thought it was already on your head. Then again, your hair is already ugly." More laughter and Roland's cheeks began to burn in a red hue.

"Who are your allies, Marius?" Griselda asked Marius. "They're fun, much better than Blondie here."

Marius motioned his friends from Villains High. "I made friends while I was gone," he said. He then glared at Roland. "And they've aided me to liberate you from your tyranny!"

"Ha!" one of Roland's offspring scoffed. "You and what..." Shouts were heard and soon (to avoid too many descriptions), the entire arena was surrounded by the liberated prisoners, the audience, the guards (who've all gone back to the royal side), Naga, and a Indimia in a giant-dinosaur size.

"Army?" Marius finished for the fairy fly hybrid with a smug look on his face.

"Woohoo!" Jessie Joker shouted as she slid down Indimia and joined her friends in the arena. "Viva la Résistance!"

"It's over, Roland!" Marius declared among the cheers of the crowd. "We've got the people and the true meaning of a country on our side!"

"How touching...But we've got magic on our side!" Helena chuckled as she held out her hands and creating green fireballs on the tip of her palms. All the good guys gasped. They did not see it coming.

"Yes, it was surprising," Roland said as he proudly patted his daughter's shoulder. "Helena was the most advanced of my offspring, my firstborn child actually. She was the first to hatch once my ex-wife laid the eggs of my thirteen children. The power she emitted was strong enough to destroy the enchantment of the love potion."

"So that's why you chose her to seduce Marius before making her break his heart," Penna said coldly.

"That's Roland for you alright," Marianne told her.

"Step aside, Buttercup, so that my daughter may aim at the ghastly hybrid son of yours!" Roland nodded at Helena, who began to prepare her blast at Marius Bogfae. Then, out like a flash of lightning, something punched Helena in the stomach and sent her flying onto a wall, evaporating her blast in the process. The fairy fly hybrid gritted her teeth when she saw that Penna had attacked her.

"Over my dead body, you won't!" Penna hissed as she released her fists, summoning auras of angry green and teal snakes. Helena blinked, but eventually growled in hatred as she charged her own hands with magic and the two began to engage in combat.

"Evacuate the citizens!" the Bog King ordered his guards.

"Right away, your Majesty!"

"Minuit, Artemis! Go help them!" Marius told his two alicorn friends, who nodded and flew to help the crowd while the royal family, along with their allies, prepared to face the evil one.

 _*Radio scratch, and Narrator interrupting*_

Hey there, sorry to cut in. Due to the author's need to work on author fanfics and some of the pestering from the adoring fans to get it over with this story, we can't fully describe the battle. Just know that it involved lots of action, Marius and his parents kicked lots of butts, Helena and Penna have one heck of a clash with Penna overpowering the hybrid, and Naga and Indimia ate all of Roland's kids except Helena. And now we go back to the story.

 _*Radio scratch and return to the story_ *

"Is everyone alright?" Safír asked above the rubble that the fighting had occurred.

"I'm fine," Kit coughed as she got out of a rock that nearly crushed her. "But I can't tell for my left rib and this arena..." Her brother held her by the arm in order to help her stand up.

"Let us all hope that those scumbags were buried in the debris," the Bog King muttered.

None of the royals or the Villainapolis kids seemed to notice Roland and Helena discreetly sneaking from a pile of debris and getting close enough for Helena to shoot a fatal blast of magic at the Bog King.

"Your Highness, look out!" Jessie Joker pointed at the upcoming beam.

"Lysander!" Marianne exclaimed. Her husband turned his head and saw the beam on the verge of hitting him until something pushed him out of the way and got hit instead. When the light and smoke cleared out, everyone was horrified to see who got hit and killed right on the chest by the beam.

Marius Bogfae.

"MY SON!" Marianne fell on her knees in front of her son's body, making her screams echo in the night.

"Y...Yes. Yes, yes, **YES!** " Roland cried out loud in triumph. "Marius Bogfae is dead!"

"We've destroyed the heir, we can now take the crown!" Helena joined him in their father-daughter celebratory dance. If they weren't so busy gloating, they would have noticed a severely angry Penna De Mort flying straight, grabbing their wings with her bare hands, and plucking them out like weeds out of the grass, making the real villains scream in pain as they wiggled like worms in the middle of a puddle of blood.

"She destroyed our wings!" Roland wailed like the original coward he once was.

"And it's a good thing too!" Griselda howled. "Killing you would have just been too easy and you would have died satisfied that you murdered my grandson!"

"Yeah, well I'm going to remove them that satisfaction."

Everyone blinked in confusion as Penna knelt before the dead prince and removed her jeweled flower hair clip from her hair. A small tear shed out of her eyes as she held the hairclip in her hands and crushed it, smashing the shards into Marius' chest. A teal blue light glowed from Marius' chest and engulfed him and Penna, creating a blow of wind and sparkles that nearly blinded everyone until the light disappeared.

"Gah!" Marius sat up straight on the ground and breathed heavily.

"HE'S ALIVE!" Daylight ran to give her cousin a bear hug.

"My grandson!" Griselda joined in to give a tighter hug.

"Grannyselda! You'll be the death of me!" Marius pushed his grandmother and cousin away from him. He started to get up until he saw the hairclip shards on his chest and scooped them into his hands. He gasped when he realized what they once were.

"The Night Violet?" Marius looked at Penna, who was shifting nervously as he got up. "Penna, why are there shards of the Night Violet that I gave you and that you turned into a jeweled hairclip in order to preserve it?"

Gasps came from the Fae Realm natives. "He gave her a Night Violet?" Junk gasped.

"I...I turned it into a Horcrux in order to preserve it, although I did have to kill a doe in order to shred a part of my soul to complete the transformation," Penna said nervously.

"You...You're saying that you sacrificed a part of your soul that could have granted you more immortality... for me?" Marius was too stunned for words as he watched her nod her head.

"But I don't understand how sacrificing _one_ part of my soul to save another is making me feel so...full." Penna frowned.

"That's because you don't know everything about immortality," a voice said. Everyone looked up and saw the Sugar Plum Fairy fly downwards. No one bothered to ask her where she had been this entire time. The Sugar Plum Fairy snapped her fingers and showed two scrolls. "Each of your fates are on each scroll, I recently got them from Titania and Oberon." She showed them the first scroll. "Penelope's Horcruxes split her soul in seventeen pieces overall, each of them taking lives from others, even though her father Voldemort forced her into creating the first sixteen. But saving a life by using one of her ripped soul's Horcrux selflessly would restore her soul back to one piece." She then showed the second scroll. "By sacrificing a part of her soul out of selflessness and love, she saved Marius' life and cured his heart from the Stone Heart curse while at the same time, his revived love prevented her from turning into ash by giving them a shared lifetime."

"In English?" Junk scratched his head in confusion. Kit groaned.

"The prince is alive, Penna has a full soul, and since they love each other so much, they get to live until either one of them dies, making both of them die at the same time."

"You understood _that_ much?"

"Spend your time learning Dark History of Evil Deities back in VH and you'll understand."

"Yay! My grandson has found a soulmate! It was about time!" Griselda cheered happily before giving Penna an equally unbearable bear hug before looking at her up and down. "And she's such a beauty! I can already tell I'm going to like her!" She pinched Penna's cheek, which was when Penna started to display her discomfort.

"Um, yes mother," the Bog King said. "But let's give her some air." He pulled Griselda away from Penna, who began to rub her sides painfully.

"Sorry about that," Marianne apologized to Penna. "I endured a similar scenario."

"She's got a boa's grip, I'll give her that," Penna groaned as she continued to rub.

"So now that we defeated the bad guys and saved the day, shall we go celebrate?" Daylight suggested.

"After all the fighting?" Dawn frowned. "Sorry, missy, but it's past your bedtime..."

"We were held hostage!" Daylight complained.

"What happened to Daylight?" Marius frowned as they began to make their way to the castle while guards took away Roland and Helena.

"Eh, she found a new hobby while you were gone," Griselda shrugged, not noticing the smile that Marius was giving to his friends and Penna. He held the lavender-skinned girl's hand in his.

"So have I," he said.


	29. Happily Ever After

THE STRANGE TALE OF MARIUS BOGFAE:

Chapter 29: Happily Ever After

 _A year or so later_

* _Narrator speaking_ *

Things had gone so well ever since the defeat of Roland. Marius had proven that he was an efficient leader and the worthy heir to the throne. Peace was finally restored to the kingdom and the harmonious cohabitation returned.

The prince did manage to make some agreements with his parents and completed a full year at Villains High, becoming one of the next graduating seniors and got a diploma in Wicked Evil Diplomacy. Aside from being the future king of his world, he also became the Fae Realm ambassador that interacted with Villainapolis and other worlds concerning politics, trades, and tourism. His actions not only strengthened the interspecies bonds of his people but also the interplanetary ones. Marius managed to balance his duties with his time dedicated for his family and friends.

And speaking of friends...

* _Radio scratch and Kit breaks into the office, revealing Safír Dragon to be the Narrator_ *

"Safír! What do you think you're doing?" Kit pointed at her wristwatch. "We're going to be late!" She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of his chair and out of his office.

"We'll be back later!" Safír shouted at the readers.

 _Later on, at the Primrose Chapel_

Bells were ringing and echoing throughout the walls of the Primrose Chapel while the attending individuals took their positions.

"You know, I'm glad that the Fae Realm doesn't have the same audience sitting rules as we do back in Villainapolis when it comes to weddings," Jessie Joker told Daylight as they sat down somewhere in the front seats.

"Really?" Daylight frowned in curiosity.

"Yeah, they make the bride's friends and family sit on one side and the groom's on the other."

"That's totally unfair!"

"I know, right?"

A seat or three away, Randolph was brushing away tears. "Randolph?" Safír frowned while he and Kit, whom he had been starting to date, sat next to the usually emotionally stiff guy. "Are you...crying?"

"Yeah." Randolph nodded. "I get emotional at weddings."

"At least your _happily_ emotional," Kit chuckled. She made a head notion to Roland and Helena, who were gagged and being held in stone stocks in order to be witnesses at the grand wedding. "These guys will be wailing once the vows are made." A fanfare began to play. "Oh, it's starting!"

Everyone watched as Prince Marius Bogfae came out in front of the altar along with the Sugar Plum Fairy while a bunch of little elf girls tossed Night Violet petals in the air as they were followed by a parade of bridesmaids and groomsmen both from the Fae Realm and Villainapolis. Guests were sighing at the sight.

"Here comes the bride!" Daylight exclaimed. Guests turned to look at the new individuals coming down the aisle and up on the altar: the Bog King Lysander leading by the arm his soon-to-be daughter-in-law Penna De Mort. And what a sight she was! Dressed in a replica of the V-Neck, sheath silver dress that Queen Marianne wore on her wedding with the Bog King, except Penna's was made of lace fabric with lavender accents and a crystal belt shaped like coiling serpents. Her black teal-streaked hair was tied up in a braid that reached her waist with a traditional fairy matrimonial hair ornament (a headband made of white flowers) sitting on her head. Her jewelry consisted solely of purple cobra chandelier earrings and an evening necklace. Whispers of admiration were heard among the crowd as the Bog King went to join his wife and the rest of the royal family in the audience while Penna joined Marius by the altar and ignored the glares of hatred that Roland and Helena were giving them.

"Fae Realm, Villainapolis, royals, commoners, villains, heroes, and antiheroes," the Sugar Plum Fairy spoke loud and clearly. "We are gathered all together here today to witness the second most extraordinary bond to ever occur after the one of our grand rulers, the Bog King Lysander and the Fairy Queen Marianne. They had marked the union of two different kingdoms into one. Now the flame has been carried into a bigger fire as our world united with others thanks to our prince and heir, Marius Bogfae, and his soulmate, Lady Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle, or Penna De Mort for short." The Sugar Plum Fairy gave a teasing wink at Penna, who slightly flustered about her original long name being revealed.

"If it makes you feel better, I still prefer calling you Viper Eyes," Marius whispered to Penna with a grin.

"Bug Fly," Penna faintly shook her head in amusement. "For my sake, don't ever change."

"Prince Marius Bogfae," the Sugar Plum Fairy asked as she placed Marius' left hand on Penna's right one and made their fingers intertwine, creating a spark of light to appear. "In front of this crowd, in Titania and Oberon's names, and in front of the cherished one chosen designated by the sacred Night Violet as your soulmate, do you vow to accept this woman as your beloved wife, to treat her as your equal, and to have her rule with you over this kingdom as your consort?"

"I do," Marius vowed. The crowd sighed, Penna smiled at him, Roland and Helena tried to object through their gags, and the spark on the united hands grew in size.

"Lady Penna De Mort," the Sugar Plum then turned to Penna, "do you also vow to accept this man as your beloved husband and equal and to justly rule this kingdom with him as his consort?"

"I swear on the River Styx that I do," Penna said.

The crowd gasp when the light coming from Marius and Penna's hand increased and dissolved, revealing two rings (both of them with violet jewels) on their fingers, one snake-designed for Marius and a butterfly-designed one for Penna.

"With all the power invested in me, I hereby declare you husband and wife!"

Marius and Penna embraced one another in a kiss while the crowd cheered. The gags were instantly removed from Roland and Helena's mouths as the new royal couple began to walk out of the chapel, being greeted by applauding citizens who were happy for their newly wedded prince and the new princess consort of the Fae Realm.

"NO! THIS IS SO UNFAIR!" Helena wailed as the guards dragged her and her father. " **WE** WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ROYAL!" Jessie Joker pouted before walking towards and, with a few complicated tricks she learned from her father the Joker, managed to make Roland and Helena forcefully smile.

"Now that's the spirit!" she said cheerfully. "Big smiles for the royals!" The guards laughed with her as Roland and Helena tried desperately to shake off the gruesome smiles she had forced on them.

While Marius and Penna were climbing onto a royal carriage pulled by hummingbirds, Marianne and the Bog King were standing on a balcony in the chapel, watching as their son and daughter-in-law finally got seated into the coach before it set off. Penna threw a bouquet of Night Violets, which Kit caught and tricked Safír into kissing her by having him sniff the flowers, which bloomed once he and Kit both touched the flowers.

"Well, our son has found true love and has shown that he'll be a great king," the Bog King said proudly. The royal coach set off, with the new royal couple waving at the crowd and shouting good-byes at the equally happy crowd.

"And she'll be a perfect queen," Marianne said in a similar tone of happiness and pride. She looked happily at her husband. "The way they brought worlds together through their love...It reminds me of how you and I brought ours together."

The Bog King smirked as her fair hands held his grey, rough ones. "Yes," he agreed. He kissed one of her hands. "We did get a strange magic." The king and queen smiled at one another and kissed with passion while Marius and Penna had a similar scenario as their coach went into the horizon.

* _Safír Dragon resumes his role of Narrator for one last time_ *

When the time came eventually, Marius and Penna were crowned as the new Bog King and Fairy Queen of the Fae Realm and proved themselves to be just rulers loved by the people, despite the fact that they were hybrids and Queen Penna used her magic to help out in community events. The now-retired Lysander and Marianne took the opportunity of exploring the other worlds for a change and spent a lot of time at Villainapolis, where they started to go to their favorite spa for the holidays more often.

Roland and Helena rotted in jail and the remains of their corpses were burned thoroughly, not even leaving behind a single trail of ash. They were gone for good and everyone, including villains, who thought that Roland and his progeny were a disgrace to the name of Evil, thought that it was good riddance.

Villains High still stands to this day. Our descendants themselves go there and retrace the family footsteps. It just never gets old. The evil school beloved by everyone still stands, with its classes, its evil students born from villains and antiheroes alike, and its historic stories passed on from generation to generation. And trust me as I say this: no matter how many years this school stands, no matter how many students come and go, if there's _one_ tale no one will ever forget, it's the strange tale of Marius Bogfae of the Fae Realm.

 **THE END**


End file.
